Confronting Destiny and Doom
by Witchprincess18
Summary: Set after series 4. Merlin and Arthur must face the perilous journey ahead to unite Albion. They face threats from friend and foe alike. Morgana is on the hunt for Arthur's bane while Gwaine declares his 'undying love' to her. Contains: Morgana's trial, MAGIC REVEAL and more. Can they unite Albion or will it end disaster. Some Mergana & Arwen WARNING: Ideas based on spoilers S5
1. Prologue

The witch lay enervated and helpless on the pine covered ground. Her frail body quaked not just from the chill in the air, but from the thought of how she had just narrowly avoided death. Her elated expression of seeing the baby dragon had long since vanished. Morgana's face was not as white as it had been but it was still abnormally pale (even for Morgana).

Morgana was intelligent; there was no denying that. She had tricked people into thinking she was her friend while she was actually their foe, taken the throne of Camelot twice and was only ever thwarted by Emrys. Yet she could not explain how a dragon had found her and healed her. Was it even a dragon or had her eyes deceived her? Well it defiantly had the power and magic of a dragon as she had felt herself leaving this world and had miraculously regained her conscience. She couldn't understand how her magic had been drained from her either. Maybe Emrys had not just come back to taunt her as she previously thought but had somehow managed to drain her magic. She had never felt more confused or bewildered in her life. Morgana couldn't come to any conclusions that she thought were possible. The only thing she was sure about was that there was only meant to be one dragon left which just made her brain more agonisingly painful and traumatised. The nearest conclusion to possible she had come up with was that Emrys had somehow come across a dragon's egg and hatched it. After all, he had been able to command the great dragon to kill Agravaine and his men so why would he not be able somehow to hatch a baby one. She still seriously doubted this as she was sure that there were not many places where a dragon egg could be hidden for over 25 years without being discovered. Morgana tried to snap out of thinking about this however much it intrigued her. She needed to get out the boundaries of Arthur's Kingdom before the Camelot patrol found her and captured her as she would be sentenced to death just because she had magic.

Morgana put on a brave face and gradually pushed herself up but she let her aching legs collapse. Trying again, she managed to stand up and hobble a few steps but stumbled and collapsed again, inflicting pain which she didn't have the energy to cope with. Morgana gave up hope and decided to rest on the soft, earthy ground. She didn't even bother moving the spiky pine needles that were jabbing into her. Morgana's side where she had been stabbed was still throbbing as Aithusa's magic was taking a while to fully heal it. Her eyelids shut and her face became vacant and peaceful. At times like this, she looked so vulnerable and delicate that it was almost impossible to realise that she was a witch despite the clothing.

Crack.

A twig behind Morgana snapped and woke her up with a jolt which caused her green eyes to widen in fear. It was jet black like the night sky everywhere except from the pool of light which made the forest haunting beautiful as it glowed through the trees. It took seconds for Morgana's eyes to adjust to see in the darkness and make out several silhouettes. The witch embraced herself for the Camelot knights to strike and tried her best to empty her face from all emotions. If she was going to die she didn't want to appear weak. The only positive thing for Morgana about this situation was her wound had fully healed and looked a couple of months old.

"Forbaernan," Morgana muttered. It was her last hope. The flickering light that usually appeared didn't come. She was doomed as her magic hadn't returned. Without any struggle or commotion she let the Camelot patrol take her captive...

* * *

The hall looked captivating as it was ready for a magnificent banquet and celebration to begin. Royal red cloths were draped from the tables with platters of food fit for kings and queens. Arthur and Gwen were deep in talk, the knights were having the time of their life's with the exception of Gwaine who was no where to be seen. Gaius was sitting making conversation with Geffory of Monmouth and Merlin, like Gwaine was nowhere to be seen.

By standing up, Arthur had enough authority to silence the room. "May the celebrations for our marriage and Queen Guinevere's coronation begin!" Arthur's announcement was greeted by cheers and a great round of applause. Gwen's radiant smile lit up the room as Arthur sat down. She had waited what seemed like a century for the moment where she knew that she could spend the rest of her life with Arthur without it being secret.

"Sire?" Merlin had just slipped into the room slyly but Arthur had noticed that he was late.

"You complete fool, Merlin. What have I told you about not ruining the best night of my life. Were you at the tavern again? A feast is not the best place to sober you up." Arthur did look a bit annoyed but Merlin knew him too well to take him seriously.

"Sorry, Gwaine reported about the search for Morgana. There is no sign of her. They are searching the forests," reported Merlin. Arthur had decided to hunt Morgana while her magic could not be used. "Sire, she is probably dead." Arthur even at the sound of his nemesis, the person whom he had felt like a brother to and then had betrayed him, dying felt remorseful. He managed to blackout his emotions extremely well but Merlin, knowing him, could tell that Arthur was trying to deceive him.

"Tell them I will ride out with them tomorrow to look for her." Arthur then turned round to make conversation with Gwen.

"Will you still be sober then" Merlin couldn't restrain a smile.

"Don't be a simpleton Merlin," Arthur deviously said.

"Dollop head!" Merlin said in an undertone so that no-one but Arthur could hear him. Merlin strolled away to collect a jug of water from the nearby waiter but his main reason to walk away was to leave Arthur and Gwen to talk to each other. After all they deserved it. They had waited a few years before they could even admit their feelings for each other.

Merlin felt sorry for Gwaine as he would have given anything to be here, getting drunk with the rest of them. Arthur had instructed him to lead the search for Morgana. He had only accepted it so whole heartedly because Arthur had told Gwaine that he was one of the few people he could trust with his life.

Merlin had been very depressed since Morgana had vanished through the dust as he thought that he had most likely killed her. He didn't know why he felt this way because really he should be celebrating that such an enemy was dead. Well this is what the Great Dragon had him believe. Merlin wiped a tear from his eye and continued to be lost in his thoughts until…

CRASH!

Gwaine burst through the doors, not caring that the room had gone deadly silent and were staring at him shocked at his rudeness and attitude. His face was flushed and looked very stressed. He was also panting as he had galloped to Camelot at full speed, flung himself off his horse, ran along corridors and up a few flights of stairs before then bursting through the doors.

"We've found Morgana!" He gasped dramatically, emphasizing Morgana's name to make it every bit more dramatic. The eerie silence broke people were gasping in shock. Everybody in the room felt impacted by these words even if they had no reason to be. "She was unconscious when we found but apart from that and a couple of wounds she'll recover." Gwaine approached Arthur and spoke in a voice which was just audible to Arthur, Gwen and Merlin. "I would have taken her to Camelot but the other soldiers were scared of her and it wouldn't have been easy." Gwen gave him a reassuring smile agreeing that he had done the right thing.

"Merlin, ask for two horses to be prepared. We need to set off right away. She must have her magic back to heal a mortal wound if the wound was a bad as Gwen made it be. Arthur spoke quickly but clearly. Gwaine and Merlin set off running to grant his request. Before Arthur had time to leave Gwen grabbed his hand and turned him around so that their faces were inches away.

"Arthur, promise me you'll be careful," Gwen whispered rapidly. Gwen's eyes pierced into Arthur's clearly stating that if he wasn't cautious then he would have to deal with her. Arthur reassuringly kissed her in reply and he saw her stiffened body relax a bit.

"Don't worry I will." He turned round and strode out the door.

* * *

The witch was confined with manacles which were chained to an ancient oak tree and surrounded by several soldiers pointing glistening swords at her.

"Lower your swords a bit," Morgana ordered with an air of authority none of the soldiers liked.

"Sorry milady Sir Gwaine's orders," replied a soldier with long wavy dark hair who was clearly a bit afraid of her as he would not meet her icy gaze.

"Ah... Yes he is so handsome," Morgana sneered in her mocking voice. "But this is completely unsuitable way to treat a lady and a very unsuccessful way to restrain her."

"What do you mean?" The dark haired soldier's sword quivered. Morgana's lip curled with satisfaction at how terrified she was making them all.

"You're all forgetting that I have magic and can blast you all out my way any second I want to but I think I should wait a while so I can confront my dear brother and kill him for persecuting my kind." She pretended to rejoice at her last few words as though knowing that it would happen soon. How gullible were these soldiers. Morgana felt she could have spent the whole day merely mocking and taunting them. No doubt Arthur had kept his most courageous soldiers in Camelot to protect the city from her if she returned.

"B-But S-Sir Gwaine told us your magic had stopped working."

"Magic can never stop working once you have the gift it is in you forever and you can't do anything about it," Morgana said in a very tranquil way.

The witch was completely unnerved by her fear of execution but her face told a completely different story. Morgana's expression clearly read 'I am tired of being restrained, please release me'. She racked her brains for an escape plan. None came so she decided to keep on attempting to use magic without incantations as it was the only way to regain her liberty. Morgana began to clear her mind of everything. The witch then focused all her energy and strength on a tree branch. Then-

SNAP!

The branch feebly split and glided slowly down to the soft ground. This was a start to redeeming her magic, Morgana told herself. Unfortunately the witch had completely forgot about the twenty odd soldiers that had just witnessed her eyes flickering gold while staring at the branch which had broken off the tree. Morgana watched helplessly as the dark haired soldier hastily positioned his sword inches from her heart ready to strike. None of the soldiers tried to protest as they were completely terrified as to what their fate would be if they let her live. She couldn't manage conceal her emotions and her sheet white shell-shocked face looked insanely petrified. Her green eyes were sunken and her mouth was slightly open in desperation. A second felt like a century to Morgana. Nano seconds before the sword could pierce her heart the black haired soldier was knocked off his feet surging into Morgana his sword lacerating her.

"NO!" yelled a figure in the distance. "Morgana!" wailed the figure sprinting towards her. As the figure approached Morgana all the soldiers were knocked off their feet and either knocked unconscious or killed. The figure carefully pulled the dead dark haired soldier off Morgana. Her breath was rattling perilously but that was not the only thing breaking the silence. Pounding the ground as they galloped along at an alarmingly fast and dangerous rate came Merlin, Arthur and Gwaine. Muttering an enchantment, the figure and Morgana vanished.

* * *

**A/N- Thanks for reading the chapter. There will be a huge time jump between this chapter and the next but don't worry the mysterious figurer's identity will be revealed. If you write a review I will try and use the constructive criticism to improve my story and also use the compliments to continue writing that part well.**


	2. The Giant of the Mountains

**Thanks for those who read the last chapter of the story. It feels good to know that quite a few people are following the story and have added it to their story alerts/favorite story. May I make a special mention to my beta reader ****_Fraser1504_**** who has been amazing. The reviews were great and please keep them coming in as they make me happy and motivated. In this chapter there are a few teases of what shall happen later on in the story.**

* * *

A prodigious and desolate ruin lay on a rock barren island. Even though the dilapidated ruin intimidated everyone at this time of night, there was still visible evidence that the ruin had once been a magnificent building, full of grandeur and bustling with people.

The island lay in caliginous mist and the dismal weather wore away, the once durable rocks. The story of this island was still embroidered by many people and when children's chores were scarce it was a favorite place that the children dared each other to go to.

Nowadays, any children or people that dared to go to that island never returned. Blood curdling shrieks had been an ordinary occurrence at night for the past few years and the ominous sight of the looming, derelict building led the villagers to believe that the island was cursed. That the sprits of sorcerers and sorceresses had unleashed a monster to avenge the suffering of their families as many of them had been persecuted for having magic as a gift. However wrong the villagers were about the ideas of spirits and monsters roaming the island, they were right to be wary as a trip to the island would mean certain death or worse, possession.

The raucous screams were not produced by a monster but by an alive human revisiting past memories but also having visions of the terrifying future which that human would face. The villagers renamed it the Cursed Isle but anyone with a trace of magic or who didn't believe in old wives' tales knew it as the Isle of the Blessed.

* * *

A few years had past since Morgana's second abominable reign of Camelot. Since then Camelot had been restored to a peaceful kingdom (more peaceful than it had formally been) as the people were content with the laws and worked together in harmony. Even the laws of magic had started to abate. The key to all of this was because of the reigning monarchs' fairness. Arthur was just and benevolent, but as courageous and fierce as a lion when it came to defending the citizens of Camelot. Gwen was a fair, gentle soul and extremely courteous but not afraid to stand up to Arthur and give her opinion. She was the hearts desire of many men.

"Good morning, sire." Merlin said joyfully as he tore open the curtains. Arthur responded by burying his head under his plush pillows. "Come on, there's a busy day ahead for you."

"That's right Merlin. A busy day filled with s-s- sleeping," said a drowsy Arthur, yawning. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, forcing Arthur to bolt up. "Come in," Arthur ordered sonorously. Sir Leon opened the door ajar and stuck his head through.

"My Lord, a man from Gremian's Kingdom has requested an audience with you," Sir Leon said in his usual majestic manner.

"What?" questioned a perplexed Arthur.

"I'm sorry, that was all he was able to confide me in. The piteous man was quite shaken."

"Inform the court that we have matters to discuss and make sure the Queen's maid is informed too. Tell them that we shall be addressing this matter in half an hour," Arthur ordered. With this command, Sir Leon departed the room with great haste.

"What was it you said about lying in bed all day. I tho-," sniggered Merlin.

"Shut up Merlin. After we have discussed these court matters, you can muck out my stables." said Arthur gleefully, who now was the one smirking.

* * *

A snug little village lay nestled in pure white snow beside a mountain. The village was usually tranquil but had a fair few people tending to their daily jobs. However, today no one had ventured out of their houses and the silence was unnerving and tense. Families gazed out of windows each person wearing a look of bewilderment on their clammy faces.

Abruptly, the ground began to tremble violently and thunderclaps were heard, although the sky was almost as white as the snow. The thunder was not thunder but the sound of a giant's feet clashing against the ground making craters and causing the ground to shake as violently as an earthquake. The giant's grotesque face had a violent and blood thirsty expression. His fingers were the size of horses and his body twice as big as Camelot castle. The giant ripped of the house roofs as easy as it is for a human to tear paper ready to devour the terrified people hiding. He grabbed a small boy no older than 5 years old with cute chestnut eyes and chocolate colored hair who was screeching for his mother and his sister. The giant showed no mercy and devoured him.

"NO! No one try's to kill my brother without being punished," screeched a girl with curly red hair and chestnut eyes. Rashly she ran towards the monster pulling out a sword out of her sheath and lacerating the giant still devouring people. He roared, kicking the girl into the side of the mountain, where she disappeared from sight and he began looking for the next village that took his fancy.

* * *

Camelot's courtroom was bustling with people muttering to each other, but all wondering the same thing: Why had they all been summoned to the courtroom at this time in the morning? Just then Arthur abruptly entered the room and strode to his throne with Gwen gliding gracefully at his heels. Once they were seated a battered looking gangly man entered the room. He had a bloody wound across his piteous face which was dripping and his beige clothes were torn and blood stained. The man stumbled in front of the thrones and even though his leg was lame and an unpleasant azure colour he went down on the knee which wasn't hurt and bowed to the royal couple. Gwen gasped and looked horrified at the sight of him and was barely able to restrain herself from yelling as loud as she could. Instead she tried to reassure him by telling him the court physician would look after him but the Queen was dumbstruck and the words were only audible to herself.

"May you inform us why you asked for an audience with the King and Queen?" Arthur's voice echoed around the room and even Merlin and Gaius, who were standing furthest away, could hear it clearly.

"Your Majesties, my name is Irwyn and my village, Lenivia, was attacked by a giant and I a-a-alone e-e-escaped. M-My village is in the S-Saxon Gremian's kingdom but he is only protecting the city. I hate to think how many other might be killed and I hoped you might help," Irwyn stuttered, just being able to withhold tears that were building up in his eyes.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I shall try and help you but first I shall need to consider how. The court is dismissed but can the knights, Irwyn, Merlin and Gaius please remain behind," Arthur commanded. With Arthur's authority the court immediately departed. "Gaius, do what you can for Irwyn and will you tell me all you know about giants." Gaius took a solution out of his medicine bag to give to Merlin and bandages which he started wrapping Irwyn's leg in.

Gaius knowledgeably answered, "There is a legend about a reckless sorcerer, who lived about a thousand years ago and wanted to take over the world. He enchanted a boy to a vast size probably bigger than this castle bu-."

"You joking," Irwyn interrupted, "It was at least twice the size of Camelot castle." Merlin who had been carefully dabbing the lotion on Irwyn's face looked at Gaius inquisitively, motioning him to continue with his story.

"When the sorcerer made the boy bigger he thought he would be able to possess the boy but unfortunately he couldn't and nor will any sorcerer ever be able to possess the giant." Gaius's beady eye caught Merlin's eye as he spoke the last phrase. "We must also beware as the boys nature changed too and the giant is ruthless and is said to feast on human flesh. The sorcerer managed to trap the giant in a cave in a large mountain. The legend says that the giant could only be released by a person finding the stone that fits into the very top of the mountain and someone must have done that."

"Well we have got no chance of saving the world so why don't we all go to the tavern and have a drink of mead," chucked Gwaine.

"There must be away to destroy the giant, though?" inquired Merlin.

"I believe the only way to kill it is by stabbing it with the sword from the stone. The sword that you pulled out the stone has special properties," Gaius informed. The knights who had been listening intently now perked their faces smiling.

"Are we going to slay the giant then Arthur?" Elyan asked.

"You must beware as the giant must be stabbed directing in the heart to be slain," Gaius added as an important afterthought.

"Your thinking about trying to slay the giant, aren't you Arthur?" Gwen questioned. Arthur merely nodded his head in response.

"This is preposterous Arthur. How are you planning to make the giant fall over onto its back so you can stab its heart?" said Sir Leon disdainfully.

"If we don't do anything then surely the giant will eventually come to Camelot and try to kill us," declared Percival who was convinced that they should try and slay the giant.

"We shall ride to slay this beast in an hour. Make sure you do not take anything bearing the Camelot crest as King Gremian will not take our presence, in his kingdom, too kindly. Also inform no one of your mission as King Gremian will try to kill me whatever the cost. He desires the Kingdom of Camelot," Arthur courageously said.

* * *

The restless witch lay in her bed which had a magnificent, navy duvet. Her fingers twitched as she tossed and turned. Morgana's eyes eerily fluttered open revealing only the haunted whites of her eyes. Flashing images surged through the witch's brain: a somber but roomy prison cell with chains; an agitated King filled with rage and a dying black-haired girl.

Morgana lurched up, gasping and panting while her heart pounded against her rib cage. She felt nauseous and as if she was on fire. The witch's head was throbbing so agonisingly that it took a while for her to be able to dwell on the images that she had just witnessed. Morgana shakily stood up and trembled over to her mirror. Her reflection stared back at the witch, revealing her face to be sallow and ghostly. Breathing deeply and desperately searching for a way to calm herself, the witch's eyes paused, glancing at a piece of parchment. Morgana snatched the parchment out and began to read. Her body relaxed and her sweaty hands ceased trembling. The parchment read:

_Dear Morgana,_

_Now I have returned the favour of you saving my life, I must go and do the same to Arthur. I know that someday we shall meet again. I wish I could have stayed with you but if I was seen with you I wouldn't be able to return the favour to Arthur. Sorry for leaving you here on the Isle of the Blessed but it was a safe haven._

_Mordred_

Morgana remembered a few years ago when she regained her conscience in the very bed she had been resting in. It had been dark and she had raucously screeched until the pain in her throat was unbearable. Morgana had thought she was deceased as the knight had positioned his sword millimetres from her heart and when he had struck her, Morgana had felt no more. Fortunately, she saw the letter which had drifted off her lap and tore it open. Morgana had concluded that Mordred with his precocious telepathy must have felt her pain and fear so had been her salvation. Morgana decided to stay on the Isle of the Blessed as it was a rare occurrence that any person would come ashore onto the island. Those unfortunate people had either been slaughter or used for the greater 'good' by Morgana as if she had let them go, they would have told their families about her and it would have resulted in certain death or failure. Morgana's plan that she had hatched a few years ago was starting to get in place. Changing into a midnight blue velvet dress and fastening a black lacy cloak round her neck, Morgana strode out the room. Putting up her hood, the witch glanced back at the cavern that she had been sleeping in and smirked. She had a kingdom to take over and a master plan in place.

* * *

**Thanks for reading the chapter. I hope enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I am going to make Morgana's dreams occur more and you shall find out why in the next few chapters. Please review and I hope you will continue to read on but please tell me if the story gets boring at somepoint.**


	3. The Truth

**A/N- Thanks for reading the second chapter. This chapter consists of two very important pieces of information (though one part is not obvious until later in the story). I am planning to put in the next chapter the snow and magical wolves. Also later on I will put in the spoilers about old Morgana and more spoilers too. If you didn't know there hasn't been any mention of a giant in the fifth series but there was a story about it in the legend which I have twisted.**

* * *

Merlin was unnecessarily pacing in Gaius's chambers as he collected provisions and essential supplies for their journey. The young warlock was tense as he felt powerless against the giant.

"Merlin?" asked Gaius breaking the unnerving silence. Merlin jerked around, his arms flailing and colliding with Gaius's leech tank. The brittle glass couldn't bear the force of hitting the floor so it smashed creating numerous fragments of glass which scattered all over the floor. Merlin hastily began to gather the glass up with a filthy rag.

"That can wait Merlin," Gaius firmly stated, "Just now we have more pressing matters. Giants are one of the most formidable creatures to exist. Their skin is tougher than armour and at least twice as thick as the length of Arthur's sword making their hearts almost impenetrable."

"Maybe it is time to reveal the truth," Merlin calmly said, "-to let Arthur know I have magic." Though Melin spoke as cool as ice, his muscles tensed up and he put a look half way between a grimace and a smile on his face. This was preceded by a stressful silence in which Merlin and Gaius were lost in their worrying thoughts. To break this edgy silence, Merlin grabbed the pestle and began to squish the leaf in the mortar to pulp. This released all his anger which had building up in his mind. It wasn't part of Merlin's personality to be angry, at any one time, but his fury had been building inside him for quite some time. After all Merlin knew he had had his part to play in the corruption of Morgana; he had been thinking it through for the past three years. At that time the warlock had been young and naïve but now he was not the simple minded child that everybody thought was a mere servant. No. Now he was someone who everybody respected including Arthur, though admittedly Arthur did not like to show it.

"That will be of no use as your magic or any other _magical_ creatures will be useless against the giant." Gaius paused there and one of his eyebrows rose slightly higher than usual. Merlin picked up what Gaius had said even though he hadn't been planning on endangering Kilgharrah's life. "I fear your magic will just rebound off the giant's skin. Also you must fear the person who unleashed the giant as they could react violent."

"Morgana?" Gaius gave a small nod looking deeply into the young warlock's sapphire eyes. Quite often Gaius wondered what was going on in his complex mind; he knew that fear and dread would be regularly in there. "So all in all I have to trespass a kingdom, kill an almost immortal giant and defeat a powerful sorceress. Piece of cake," Merlin joked. Seeing Gaius's stony look "-One word for it, impossible."

"Merlin you must be wary of al-."

"MERLIN!" thundered Arthur interrupting Gaius's droning lecture. Merlin quite happily escaped the lecture but embraced the old man before tearing after Arthur, the warlock's saddle bag swinging off his shoulder.

* * *

Morgana galloped along the forest riding a silvery stallion she had heisted. The fiery sun in the pink sky was glaring down upon her but Morgana did not care about the daylight; she currently was trespassing inside King Gremian's Kingdom. Suddenly, the witch pulled the stallion to a halt. There was a strange feeling in the air, not unlike the feeling at the Isle of the Blessed but this one was more vivid. Morgana knew that feeling anywhere - magic was around her. This caused some excitement to flood through because it was less than seldom for her to come across such a place.

Dismounting her horse, she pulled her elaborate, black curls out from behind her ears and began to search for the source of the aroma. Recently, Morgana had been completely determined to master all aspects of the Old Religion so she could make her powers even greater.

Morgana's eyes lingered across a circular dome shape, the size of a small hut roof, which she warily approached. She could sense powerful magic in the area surrounding the mysterious dome. The witch began to tread forward but her foot broke through the frail moss, revealing bars which ceased her from falling through a hole. Her right foot had fallen through the bars though, crashing against them and inflicting pain. The witch had just managed to pull herself up before she hurt any other part of her body. Morgana's swollen foot was an unpleasant blue colour so she muttered words of the Old Religion to heal it. Then hauling the bars off the hole and Morgana lowered her body down into an underground tunnel.

"Fobearnan," she murmured. A flickering flame burst out of the witch's palm, illuminating the murky tunnel. She ambled slowly along the tunnel and cautiously descended the stairs when she then creakily pushed the once sumptuous but now decaying door, causing it to open. There was an ominous silence in the room; a spine chilling feeling. To try and prevent her tense feeling Morgana lit a black barred fire holder. Illuminating the room, the light revealed an open coffin and numerous pompous objects in piles as high as mountains of treasure. The coffin looked unused and was deserted except from an isolated ornate chest. Curiously, Morgana approached the chest and clutching a knife from her cloak began to slice the wood. She stuck her hand in hole of the chest only to discover an icy and glutinous object. When Morgana jerked her hand back she had a black inky liquid all over her hand. The witch hacked away at the chest to discover a black heart smeared in half clotted blood. Stiffening a scream Morgana turned around and nearly crashed into a man. Drawing out her dagger she let out a shriek for a nano second but cut it off.

The man said, "Morgana Pendragon, the la-"

"I despise that surname," Morgana abruptly interrupted. "Calling me, _that _is suicidal. I demand to know who you are." Morgana threateningly pointed her dagger at the man but the man did not flinch or even look the slightest bit scared.

"My name is Taliesin and I am a seer not unlike you. I have been looking at your destiny in the crystal caves and it appears that you will return the old ways. However it was unclear how long for. So beware and make your choices carefully as you should not try and bring about the downfall of our young King Arthur as he is destined for good."

"Do not joke about things like that. There is no way that my half wit brother is destined for good because he persecutes the innocent," Morgana mockingly joked.

"The one called Emrys will change tha-"Taliesin stated confidently.

"Emrys is nothing but a good for nothing sorcerer who continually tries to thwart my plans. I suppose if I possessed him then that would be a different matter." Morgana's eyes twinkled in the gloom.

"Do you not think there is a reason that a sorcerer who Arthur would see dead repeatedly tries to save his life?" questioned Taliesin.

"He has mental problems," Morgana hastily answered.

"I'm not to sure he is the one that has metal problems." Morgana threw her dagger at him but he vanished, reappearing a few metres behind Morgana.

"I'm not the mental. Once I am Queen, millions of lives will be saved."

"But how many people will be sacrificed along the way? I have warned you Morgana Pendragon." Morgana scowled at him calling her that. "So if you in the future regret the choices that you make, it will be completely your choice to ignore my warnings. The crystals also say that Arthur will bring about a time of Albion where magic will be welcomed back. He is the once and future King. Make your choices cautiously as the old ways could be lost forever. It is the truth." With that Taliesin vanished, confident that he had left her pondering over what he had said and he was right. Morgana sat down and dwelled on this matter not caring she was in an eerie tomb. It was late morning until she evacuated the tomb but had Taliesin's time with her been well spent?

* * *

Merlin, Arthur and the knights had quickly departed Camelot and were now traveling through a lush, green coniferous forest. They were trotting on their horses and had been fairly quiet until just now.

"Arthur?" Merlin called. "What are we going to say if a Saxon asks us what we are doing? I mean it is not everyday that Saxons see six men riding horses all together."

"I don't know act foreign, speak French," Arthur replied unsure.

"Yeah and that is not going to be suspicious at all, providing that you and Sir Leon are the only people who have been taught French," Merlin said cheekily.

"We can all be French traders. I know a very useful French phrase. Je t'aime," laughed Gwaine. Seeing the bewildered looks on Merlin's, Percival's and Elyan's faces he added, "It means I love you. Well I actually know quite a bit of French."

Crack

"Shhh," beckoned Arthur. Gwaine stiffened his laugh.

Bandits shot out of the trees yelling to try and intimidate their enemy.

"Really? The minute we are out of the boundaries of your kingdom Arthur, we get attacked. At least we know that it is not your kingdom that has an infestation of bandits. " Gwaine chortled. The knights, the King and the servant jumped off their horses and began to fight the bandits. Their swords clashed and blood spurted out of the half-alive, enemy bodies. A bandit crept up on Gwaine who was too occupied fighting the two bandits in front of him to notice. The bandit swung his sword for the kill but fortunately he was blasted back his sword piercing his heart. Merlin grinned at himself. Once again he had managed to save someone's life again using magic without anyone noticing. What Merlin didn't notice was a bandit sneaking up on Arthur and smashing his mace off Arthur's skull but Gwaine who had polished off the bandits he had been fighting did and sprinted over towards Arthur killing the bandit with the mace.

"MERLIN!" Gwaine yelled. Merlin dashed over to Gwaine finally realising what had happened to Arthur. The bandits were still numerous in number outnumbering them at least one to five.

"Gwaine we need to get him out here. Help me lift him," Merlin called. Gwaine and Merlin began to haul Arthur away but looked back at the struggling knights conflicted at the thought of leaving them.

"Gwaine, you need to get the King out of here. His life is at stake. We can manage," Sir Leon ordered, almost getting his head sliced off. At this Merlin and Gwaine began to flee while Percival cutting down the bandits that tried to approach them.

Gwaine and Merlin had been dragging Arthur for five minutes before they came to a halt.

"Ah… with all our bad luck, surprisingly there is a cave over there. It looks safe enough to rest in," Gwaine panted. They were all shuddering as the further north they traveled the colder the weather became. The trio ventured into the cave where Merlin lay Arthur down and extracted a blanket from his back which he wrapped round Arthur. "Will he be alright? Can you heal him," asked a worried Gwaine.

"I'll see. Meanwhile we will need wood to make a fire and water." Gwaine scurried away in search of wood and water. Examining Arthur, Merlin discovered what he had dreaded. His cranium was broken and he was suffering from internal bleeding, as well as external. Merlin thought deeply as he tried to remember the spell he had used on Morgana to heal her when he had accidentally caused her to fall down the stairs. Merlin needed to brace himself as Arthur was in a much worse state than Morgana had been. The warlock placed his hand over Arthur's lungs and felt his weak, rattling breath. Merlin closed his eyes and began to say "Ic þe þurhhæle þin licsare mid þam sundorcræftas þære ealdaþ æ!" His hand could now feel Arthur's chest heaving more naturally and he had the courage to open his eyes and to stare forlornly at Arthur. He also witnessed Gwaine standing at the entrance of the cave and gaping at him perplexed.

"Merlin, I want the truth."


	4. Je t'aime

Merlin's heart pounded rapidly and his frozen body became drenched in sweat. He trusted Gwaine but had become so used to concealing the truth he shuddered at the prospect of anyone finding out his secret. If even so much as a rumour of his magic spread around Camelot than Merlin knew that he would banished from Camelot for life at the very least.

"Merlin, I saw what happened with my own eyes," Gwaine announced in a calm voice. The knight knew too well what could be at stake if anyone else found out. This pained Gwaine more than he could say as he couldn't imagine life without Merlin. True, Gwaine would mock and tease Merlin more than anyone else, but knew that he just had a different way of displaying his affections. "I won't tell Arthur what happened but I need to know for sure so will confess that you have magic."

"I am a sorcerer," Merlin stated solemnly. He was conflicted between those four words being a pain to say or something that he would say with his utmost pride. "I am also the reason that Arthur never dies as I have saved his life more times than I care to remember. No one must know I have magic, especially Morgana."

"Well you are the best friend I have ever had and I would rather die than betray you." Because Merlin knew Gwaine well, he picked up the trace of coldness in his voice. He also noticed the lack of sarcasm and jokes from Gwaine and the agony in his eyes. To prevent his sinking feeling from making his entire mind worse than miserable, the warlock stared at the ground. "Does anyone else know?"

"Just Gaius. I would have told you but there was too much at stake and Gaius would have killed me."

"I know, I know," muttered Gwaine. A scattering of stones was just audible so Gwaine drew his sword out of his sheath. Unfortunately the same bandits they had been fighting before came running at them and threw a cloth with sleeping powder Gwaine and Merlin felt no more.

When the trio regained their conscience they found themselves trapped in a dingy, earthy room. It was even more cluttered than Gaius's chambers but half the size and a lot grubbier. Spider webs stretched from one side of the room to the other; dust drifted around making Merlin sneeze and none of the objects in the room seemed to be in anywhere near good condition. Since it was full of mining utensils and clothes, it didn't take Merlin, Arthur and Gwaine to realise that they were in some kind of underground storeroom.

"Where do you reckon we are," asked Gwaine. Merlin shrugged, but Arthur was too busy thinking to answer. The last thing he could recall was fighting the bandits in the forest but even that memory was vague. He could remember something about a giant slaughtering everything in its sight. Then his thoughts began to flood back to him although he could not conclude what had happened between the fight and waking up in this horrible room which had nothing pleasant about it.

Suddenly there was a rattling of keys and a grotesque figure entered. He was a beefy man about as tall as Percival but wider than he was tall. The man wore a massive fur overcoat made from the finest leather in the whole of Albion and fur of wolves. His ebony coloured boots were flimsy looking but as hardy as mountain sheep's hooves. Unlike the man who was covered in scars, his garments looked reasonably well cared for.

The man grunted, "Right you three I am your master and you must do as I say or else you will be torture or ki-"

"JE T'AIME!" yelled Merlin. The man looked at him bewildered and disgusted as he was not used to being yelled at. He wandered how a mere man who was to be a slave could talk to his superior master like that. The fact that it was incoherent nonsense made the whole situation, for Melin, a lot graver

The man started screaming, "HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LI-"

"Merlin." Arthur whispered in a voice which was only audible to Gwaine and Merlin above the man's voice. "That was only a joke and je t'aime means I love you." Merlin's face fell at hearing this. After all, the warlock had sent at least ten minutes with his face screwed up trying to memorise the phrase which would hopefully save his life.

"Well since we've started it, why don't we continue speaking French to that freak," Gwaine hissed, restraining a laugh.

When the man's screaming had ceased Arthur approached him and said, "Ce ne sont pas mes oignons."

"Vous êtes laid," stated Gwaine, holding his nose. Though it was a peculiar sight, Gwaine held restrain his laughs, or at least make them more muffled. He needed to act serious but he could barely conceal his true nature.

"WHAT?" raged the man his clutched fist trembling in fury.

"Il doit être difficile de savoir ce que les femmes meurent parce que vous êtes si laid," added Gwaine. On this note the horrified man stormed off slamming and padlocking the door.

"Well that was fun," laughed Gwaine. "Why did you say it wasn't his business Arthur?" Arthur made a

"At least I didn't call him ugly and say that women die at the sight of his ugliness," mocked Arthur.

"Well, it was too much of a temptation."

"Anyway, why the hell are we here? Why the hell do I feel light headed and dizzy?" interrogated a mortified Arthur.

"Well," Merlin began catching Gwaine's eye and motioning that he would tell the story. "When you were fighting the bandits, a bandit sneaked up behind you and hit you with his mace. Me and Gwaine lifted you away from the fight and ran for it. We don't know what happened to the rest of the knights but we left them fighting the bandits. We took shelter in a nearby cave, I healed you and the same bandits came and drugged us. Then we woke up here."

"Time to hatch a plan," Arthur said in deep thought. This was an extremely delicate situation in which danger lurked at every corner making Arthur's eyes twitch in anxiety.

"I don't think so," Merlin happily answered holding up a key. "I stole it off that ugly man." The actual truth was he had used his magic to make the key silently fall on to the floor and then glide towards him when the man was yelling.

"Well," Gwaine called gesturing to the clothes. "We look conspicuous in these clothes, we need to change." The trio swiftly changed into sooty and torn Saxon clothing with intricate designing. Obviously, these garments had first belonged to a prosperous noble but had been ruined and then got demoted to mine workers

"Take these," Arthur quietly said passing pick axes to Merlin and Gwaine. Merlin unlocked the door which they headed out of into a cramped corridor and they began to run for the exit. As they fled they passed slaves which had been worked to the bone. None of them were in a healthy state and their bones were clearly visible against the skin. Merlin halted staring at the pitiful sight of them but Gwaine pulled him on, reminding the warlock that many others would surely perish if they didn't make it out of here alive. Finally, the trio climbed up some rocky stairs and found themselves nearing the exit until the porky, grotesque man who had visited them in the locked room earlier blocked their path. He was defiantly the slave master who was torturing numerous slaves.

"Pourquoi êtes-vous si stupide?" asked Gwaine.

"He is stupid because it is in his genes," said Arthur answering Gwaine's question while taunting the slave master. Arthur swung the pick axe round in his hand while the slave master unleashed his sword. The two weapons clashed and clanged. Arthur ducked and just managed dodged the slave master's lethal sword. Both men were aiming for the kill. Gwaine glanced at Merlin whose eyes had flickered gold to make the slave master drop his sword. Arthur hastily retrieved it and showing no mercy pierced the slave master's heart hoping that the slaves would escape.

Outside of the caves the picturesque landscape was covered in snow. The trio's new clothing was thicker than their old but they were still frozen and barely protected from the vile cold. They had also lost all their provisions, were famished and dehydrated. Dragging their feet along they hoped to find a village to get shelter, rest and food. Fortunately they were not disappointed as when night had truly fallen the trio began to approach a village in rack and ruin with luckily a few small dwellings which were still standing strong.

"Look." Gwaine pointed out a small dwelling which had smoke surging out the chimney. The prospect of warmth, food and water almost made the trio burst through the door but they stopped themselves and cautiously entered. Inside was a small but homely looking room with a welcoming wafting smell of a cooking rabbit. A girl with curly, ginger hair was nursing a small child.

"Who are you and can I help you?" the girl coldly asked. Merlin could understand why she was angry. She had reason to be as they had just intruded her home

"I, Gwaine and Merlin," Arthur gestured to Gwaine and Merlin as he mentioned their names. "Have come to slay the giant."

"That's impossible," she laughed.

"Nothing is impossible," Arthur said with great thought. After all, Arthur had a sister who he would relinquish his entitlement to the throne to save her life who wanted him dead; an insane uncle who also sought him dead and had faced a numerous amount of magical creatures who he had somehow been able to destroy. These were but a few examples.

"Whatever you say. You can stay here for the night if you want. My name is Sunnivia and this," she prompted to the tiny baby, "is Dawn." They spent that night eating rabbit stew and learning more about the giant from an almost sobbing Sunivia. They learnt that the village they were in was called Miadora and that Lenivia (the village that Irwyn, the man who had come to Camelot for help, was from) bared north. The four wished each other goodnight and settled down to sleep.

* * *

Percival, Elyan and Sir Leon had luckily escaped the bandits with only a few cuts and bruises and were now heading for Lenivia where they hoped they would rejoin Arthur, Merlin and Gwaine. The knights were galloping along hard because they didn't want to travel during the day as they thought the Saxons might get suspicious. They didn't notice a woman on her snow white horse trotting along the edge of the path and collided with the horse knocking her head first off the horse. The woman screamed and the knights quickly dismounted to her aid. As the knights approached her she did not stir because she was unconscious. It was quite a shock for the knights to see that they had maimed the witch- The Lady Morgana.

* * *

It was pitch black when Merlin woke so he stoked the flickering embers to generate more heat for the room. Merlin couldn't ignore the nervous churning of his stomach so he decided to visit an old friend to share his problems with. The warlock silently crept out the hovel with a fur pelt coat on. His feet crunched through the snow as he distanced himself away from the village.

"O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!" Merlin shouted.

Suddenly six wolves pounced out of the nearby trees howling and cautiously approached Merlin before lying down. Finally the Great Dragon, Kilgharrah, glided down and landed smoothly next to Merlin.

"Ah... I see we have company young warlock," the dragon said intrigued.

"What?" questioned Merlin.

"The wolves are creatures of the Old Religion and hold supreme powers. They are telling me that they heard you summon me and came to request help. A terrifying giant is dictating the land and its end needs to be nigh. Open your mind Merlin and you shall hear the wolves' telepathic speech."

Merlin opened his mind and emptied his brain from all emotions. The warlock wasn't too sure if he would manage to clear his mind from misery, anxiety and all the pessimistic emotions that clouded his mind.

"Emrys, the giant is destroying our home and slaying our kin. Please help us destroy this beast."

"Arthur intends to destroy this beast by piercing the giant's heart," Merlin replied.

"Yes but you will need help," the dragon stated. "From all of us. I shall fly round the giant's head to make it dizzy and it shall hopefully fall over so Arthur can stab it. If that does not work we can just try attacking the giant."

"Can you risk exposing yourself like that," Merlin queried. "I told Arthur that he had given you a mortal blow so he expects you to be dead."

"If Arthur thinks I'm helping you slay the beast he might begin to realise that all magic isn't evil. If not I am perfectly capable of fending for and protecting myself young warlock," the dragon answered.

"I must get back to Arthur," Merlin muttered.

"One last thing, warlock. Make sure you summon me as soon as the giant comes into view," Kilgharrah ordered. Merlin nodded and began to head off until-

"Thank you Emrys we appreciate your help and shall repay your favour someday." As Merlin headed back to Arthur and Gwaine his head was clouded and buzzing with thoughts. Well he thought, we will just see what tomorrow brings - success or failure.

The next morning Merlin was woken by thunder but from the terrified look on Sunnivia's face he thought it might not be all that it seemed.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Sunnivia and Dawn are characters of my own creation and I am planning to make a few more up. Please review. There will be hints of Mergana all the way through the story but the actual relationship will come at the end.**


	5. Victory and Defeat

**Thanks for reviewing. This chapter is the longest so far though I am not intending for the chapters to get longer. I am really annoyed at myself as I have read my story again to find Morgana isn't in it heaps. She is my favorite character by far so she will be in it heaps more starting this chapter. I called the baby Dawn because it tied in with Sunnivia and I hoped it would make someone happy.**

When Morgana woke up she found herself in a tent wrapped snugly in blankets. She shut her eyes and tried to recall what had happened. She could remember riding on her horse and then falling. At this Morgana shot up feeling for her dagger which was still hidden in her dress. Venturing outside she was utterly shocked to see Sir Leon, Sir Percival and Sir Elyan. Morgana was surprised to see that she was not in chains and the knights were not pointing weapons at her. Instead all three knights were glaring at Morgana as though she was guilty but none of them uttered a word. Morgana longed for the knights to threaten or attack her so she retaliate and wipe them out with her supreme magic skills. The knights just stood their ground like rock, their eyes burning into hers. Avoiding catching the knight's eyes Morgana spotted her horse and its tack. She quickly tacked up her horse and galloped away. Morgana felt completely bewildered again and hoped that she had just witnessed some kind of optical illusion. Anyway she couldn't press on these matters however much she wanted to, she had work to do.

"Elyan you are a total genius," Percival said. "We managed to confront Morgana without dying and hopefully we managed to make her feel guilty. Did you see the look on her face when she came out the tent and saw us all staring at her."

"I still think we should have killed her," Sir Leon grunted.

"Well no one is going to find out about this. We can't just kill Morgana in cold blood. If we had tried to take her back to Camelot we would have to abandon our quest so many more people would die," Elyan said.

"And we would probably never even manage to make it back to Camelot alive," Pervival added.

Roaring reverberated through the hovel which confirmed Merlin's fear - the giant was the source of the noise which sounded like thunder.

"It's time," Arthur announced approaching the door.

"Wait for me," Sunnivia called.

"Sunnivia you are only a child," Arthur replied. "You will remain here to look after Dawn. Else the poor baby will surely perish." Arthur tried to protect Sunnivia as he thought that they had little chance of slaying giant and returning alive.

"I am sixteen in two months," Sunnivia said indignity but she didn't press this matter as she loved Dawn more than anything else in the world. Arthur, Gwaine and Merlin quickly exited the house to find the enormous figure of the giant in the distance.

"Stay here Merlin," Arthur ordered. "Look after Sunnivia and Dawn. If I don't return then tell Gwen that I truly forgive her." To Arthur's uttermost surprise, Merlin for once stood his ground and didn't even attempt to follow him. Arthur sprinted off with Gwaine right at his heels.

"O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!" Merlin roared. Kilgarrah came swooping past Merlin with around fifty wolves running behind him.

"Couldn't give me a lift," Merlin shouted to the Great Dragon as the dragon flew past.

"I am not horse Merlin and it would be life threatening. Exposure," the dragon rumbled. Merlin had no choice but to dash after Kilgharrah and the wolves.

Sunnivia being curious had poked her head out the door to see the dragon and army of wolves. They were surely going to finish Arthur, Gwaine and Merlin off thought Sunnivia to herself.

"Hello is anybody there?" asked a voice. An old woman cautiously peeked into the house.

"Edla, just in time. Take care of Dawn with your life. Do you understand?" Sunnivia commanded with an air of authority.

" B-B-But," Elda stuttered.

"No time to explain. See you later," Sunnivia apologised. She grabbed her sword sheath, flung her wild ginger curls over her shoulder and darted out the house leaving poor Edla in shock.

"Arthur watch out," yelled Gwaine. Gwaine had spotted the Great Dragon and army of wolves. Arthur pulled Gwaine behind a bush and watched them tear past. "Phew, that was close," Gwaine panted. Just then Merlin came bounding after the wolves and the dragon.

"MERLIN! What on earth are you doing here? That dragon was meant to be dead. It could have killed you," Arthur shouted furiously.

"The dragon and most of the wolves saw me but I don't think they want to kill us. I think they seek to kill the giant," gasped Merlin.

"That would be preposterous but we cannot give up our quest." Seeing the puzzled look on Gwaine's face, Arthur asked, "What is wrong Gwaine."

"I have been to almost every pub in these lands and have encountered many sorcerers and weirdos. Not all of them seemed to be evil. In fact I was very good friends with a sorcerer." Gwaine caught Merlin's eye and grinned as he spoke the last part of the sentence.

Arthur commanded, "Well we need to go. Merlin for once in your life I am begging you to do what you are told." Arthur and Gwaine dashed away.

"That clot pole wouldn't last a second without me," Merlin muttered to himself before chasing after Gwaine and Arthur. As they took plight to get to the giant they witnessed the dragon circling round the giant's head.

"_Merlin,__"_the dragon spoke telepathically. _"__This tactic isn__'__t working so we will attack the giant. You need to keep Arthur away from the giant until we manage to knock the giant onto its back.__"_

"Bene læg gesweorc," muttered Merlin and mist clouded their view. It was the same spell as he had used to help Morgana, Aglain and Mordred escape from Arthur when Morgana had went to see the druids when she had first learnt of her magic.

"Merlin, what are you doing?" Gwaine whispered curiously.

"We need to keep Arthur away from the giant until the dragon and the wolves manage to knock it over onto its back," Merlin murmured so his speech was not audible to Arthur. "The dragon will tell me telepathically when the giant has been knocked over. Let's hide behind those trees it might delay Arthur for a bit."

Kilgharrah was gliding round the giant and breathing fire over the dragon's feet while the wolves were using their magical powers to try and break down the skin. Soon pools of blood were streaming out of the giants feet and the feet were covered in charcoal. The stubborn giant was not giving up on his feast that quickly though and he kept on lunging at the wolves. Whenever he caught a wolf the giant would rip it apart not caring if it was alive or dead. Throwing it into his mouth his eyes would widen in delight and his spirits would rise which made the giant want to devour even more wolves. Fortunately the giant was beginning to get unstable on his feet and when Kilgharrah breathed fire in the giant's face, he fell over crushing several wolves.

"_Merlin,__"_ said Kilgharrah's telepathic voice. _"__Come as quickly as you can. The giant has fallen.__"_

"Come on," Merlin shouted urging Gwaine to head for the open ground where Arthur was busy searching for them.

"Where the hell have you two been," asked a furious Arthur.

"We were er… We were searching for the giant," Merlin replied.

"It is maybe too hard for you two to hear the giant's footsteps coming from over there or to see the tall figure which is as big as a mountain."

"What tall figure," asked Gwaine.

"It is right there," Arthur called, jabbing his finger in the air but the giant had of course fallen down so he was pointing his finger at nothing. "Hang on. Where did the giant go?"

"Let's go and find out," called Gwaine. The trio ran into the distance. When Arthur spotted the giant he darted ahead of Merlin and Gwaine running as fast as he could towards the giant's heart. He was running so fast he didn't even notice the wolves backing away from him. Pointing Excalibur at the giant's skin he plunged it in but the giant's skin being so thick meant that Excalibur hadn't pierced the giant's heart.

Merlin gave him a helping hand by using his magic to help Arthur pierce the giant's heart. Once the sword had pierced its heart the giant shuddered and then moved no more.

"ARTHUR!" Sunnivia shrieked, sprinting towards Arthur. "We need to leave. The Saxons know that you are here and are coming to kill you."

Morgana dismounted her horse at the entrance of an eerie looking castle and tied its bridal to the fence. She smirked at the thought of finally getting her revenge on Arthur after waiting so long. The witch strode right into the castle her midnight blue cloak flowing behind her. The gloomy entrance hall was lit by ignited torches. Though it was morning the hall made it feel like it was night as there were no windows to give any source of light. Morgana felt as though she had walked into a prison with the exception that there were no prison cells.

"Halt," ordered a guard. "What business do you have here?"

"I seek to speak with King Gremian. The matters concern Arthur Pendragon," Morgana confidently stated.

"Who are you?" the guard questioned. Morgana hesitated she couldn't say that she was Morgana Pendragon or else King Gremian, loathing Arthur, would surely kill her straight away. She also didn't want to lie to the King as it would destroy any forms of alliance she tried to make with him.

"An enemy of Camelot," Morgana answered.

"You need to be more specific. What is your name, occupation and where do you live."

Morgana answered straightaway this time, "Well I can't tell you my name. I do not have an occupation unless you count trying to take over Camelot and kill King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. I live on an island all by myself in a ruin." The guard suddenly made a raucous shrieking noise and numerous soldiers came sprinting towards Morgana.

"Prince Alexander, I found her lurking about the castle. She wants to speak to the King about Arthur Pendragon but she will not tell me her name and she is unemployed. She is quite likely to be an assassin sent to kill King Gremian by Arthur," the guard spoke. Prince Alexander stepped forward and looked deeply into Morgana's eyes. Alexander was good looking boy with brown hair and a mixture of green and brown eyes. If Morgana had to estimate an age for him she would probably estimate that he was in his late teens.

"Search her for weapons," ordered Alexander. Morgana stood stationary letting them search her for weapons but she had unfortunately forgotten that her dagger was stowed away in a secret compartment her dress. A soldier unluckily found the secret pocket and held the dagger up.

"Here, Sire," the soldier called presenting Prince Alexander with the dagger.

"Restrain her," Alexander commanded. The soldiers seized Morgana and confined her in chains. Morgana didn't even resist the guards, even when Alexander gave her the death stare. "Lock her up and I shall speak to her later. Make sure she is securely chained up before then though." Morgana had not got what she bargained for. She had expected the Prince to take her to the King to decide her fate. If that had happened Morgana would have told the King her plans to destroy everyone who was in league with Arthur and take over Camelot.

Morgana had no choice but to be led to the dungeons. In the dungeons there were several prison cells which had barely enough room for a human to lie down in. The dungeons gave off a strong smell of urine and rotting human flesh. King Gremian preferred to leave the people, he wanted dead, to perish in the prison cells. The only exception to this was that people who possessed magic were burnt at the stake. Morgana was dragged past several cells with dying people in them. Most of the people in the cells had been left to die for minor crimes like not being able to pay their taxes or insulting a knight. Morgana was relieved to see that she was being led to a prison cell that was three times the size of a normal sized cell there but she shouldn't have been relieved. Unlike the other prisoners who were allowed to roam free in their cells without any chains, she wore handcuffs which were chained to the wall. The chains were long but the handcuffs were heavy and hurt Morgana's wrists.

Just when Morgana thought things couldn't get any worse, a few soldiers came with a metal collar. Morgana had had enough. She wasn't going to let herself wear that thing and be treated like a dog. As the soldiers tried to force her into it, she kicked out at them managing to give a soldier a nose bleed and give another soldier a broken foot. The soldiers had to get reinforcements and it took ten soldiers to pin stubborn Morgana against the wall and force her into the metal collar. Morgana had face the rest of the duration, before Alexander came to visit her, standing up as the chain attaching the metal collar to the wall was no longer than her arm.

"Are all these precautions really necessary, my lord," Morgana questioned hopefully as Alexander entered her cell.

"Absolutely," Alexander replied.

"I would rather take my own life than be in league with Arthur Pendragon."

"A likely story," Alexander mocked. "Well you should have no fear to tell me your name then."

Unfortunately for Morgana a prisoner yelled, "You stupid idiot! Did you not know that she is Arthur's half-sister MORGANA PENDRAGON?" Alexander could tell by the horrified look on Morgana's face that what the prisoner said was true. Morgana didn't even have a thought to comfort herself. It was the stupid name Pendragon that was going to result in her death.

**Poor Morgana! I hope the writers are not as cruel to her in the fifth series as I have been to her in this fanfic so far. I can guarantee you that there will be someone else put in prison in this fanfic. Edla is Sunniva's Grandmother's sister. Mordred and Aithusa will be returning in the next couple of chapters. Thanks for reading and please review.**


	6. The Madness of Gwaine

**Thanks for reading the last chapter. In this chapter you have got to love Gwaine. King Gremian hates magic except when his brother uses it to help catch sorcerers. Morgana didn't escape by using magic… you will find out in this chapter.**

"She is not only a Pendragon but she is a powerful witch. Her main aim is to kill everyone." Morgana felt her heart horribly sink as rage intensely seethed through her body ready to leap out at the prisoner. "I'd rather die than look at her. She is no better than dirt and is a piece of v-"

"I confess that I am Morgana Pendragon and I do have magic." Morgana said in her calm but eerie voice. "But I have come to offer you and your father help."

"My father says he would rather die than work in harmony with a Pendragon. Especially one who is an insane sorceress," Alexander taunted with an evil glint in his eye.

Morgana's determination had restrained herself from using magic. She needed to make an alliance or else she would just have to go back and hide at the Isle of the Blessed. Morgana had thought that she might be able to convince the King but now the chances seemed pretty slim. She decided to wait until Alexander had gone and then try and escape.

Alexander headed out of the cell but ceased walking beside a guard and whispered in his ear, "Sedate her." Morgana was too busy watching Alexander heading out of the dungeons to see the guard pointing a small cross bow at her. Before Morgana had realised that, the guard had shot a dart with tranquilliser in it at her, she felt the world quickly leaving her.

"I don't know about any of you but now might be a good time to RUN!" Merlin called.

"I give the orders Merlin, SPRINT!" Arthur said. Arthur sprinted away the way back to Miadora (Sunnivia's village). Sunnivia, Merlin and Gwaine followed his lead and chatted at the same time.

"Sprint, run what's the difference," Merlin indignity whispered to Gwaine.

"To us nothing. If you said that to Arthur the world would end though."

"If there were no taverns and good looking girls except from Morgana your world would end."

"Hmm… Not true. Morgana is darn pretty though she has a bit of a mental issue. We would have a romance where she would end up killing me or we would stab each other at the same time. In fact next time I see her, I will tell her I love her just to see her reaction." Merlin chuckled at Gwaine's remark.

"That was being optimistic though," Gwaine added. "It is not me who loves Morgana, it is you," Merlin stared at Gwaine in surprise. Merlin felt strange. He tried to find the words to tell Gwaine that he would never love Morgana but he failed.

"You have got quite similar hobbies."

"Yes." Merlin agreed managing to find words. "That is why Arthur and all the knights of Camelot are alive because I am trying to kill them all the time," Merlin mocked sarcastically."

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO PLAYING AT?" Arthur yelled. "I SAID SPRINT! Not go for a saunter."

"Calm down Arthur. The Saxons are probably miles away," coaxed Merlin.

Suddenly Saxons charged out of the forest they were running past. They were numerous in number and their war cries were formidable. The four's pace picked up but the Saxons were steadily gaining on them. One of the Saxons fired an arrow which hit Gwaine in the leg. Gwaine stumbled down onto the ground unable to keep on going because of the agonising pain in his leg. Merlin halted pulling Gwaine up. Arthur and Sunnivia hadn't noticed that Gwaine had fallen.

"Merlin, you need to run and save yourself. The fate of Camelot rests on your shoulders," Gwaine stuttered with great effort.

"But..."

"No time to argue. GO!" Merlin ran off into the distance leaving poor Gwaine at the mercy of the Saxons.

"The King is going to be pleased that is the fourth knight of Camelot that we have captured, in two days." Merlin heard this and gasped in shock. Four knights of Camelot.

"Gaius? " Gwen asked entering Gaius's chamber. She wore a wine coloured dress with gold intricate patterning and had a gold headdress on.

"Yes, your Majesty," replied Gaius lurking out of the corners of chamber.

"Just call me Gwen. Do you think Arthur will return? It has been almost four days," Gwen whispered trying not to burst out into hysterics.

"He'll defeat the giant I'm sure of that," Gaius lied.

"It is not just that. Other things could threaten his life."

"Like what."

"King Gremian and M-Morgana," stuttered Gwen.

"I can't promise you that King Gremian won't find out that Arthur is trespassing his kingdom but if he does they will find a way to outsmart them. As for Morgana, she hasn't been sighted for three years so it will be extremely unlikely that she even knows where they are." Gwen sighed. She had not slept very well since Arthur had gone. "Merlin will take care of Arthur."

"Why does that not reassure me?"

"Merlin can't fight but he is clever. Here, take this sleeping draft before you go to bed tonight," Gauis instructed. "You will need all your strength for ruling the kingdom while Arthur is away. Gwen, you know can still come to speak to me any time you like."

"Thank you Gaius. I feel better now."

"ARTHUR!" Merlin shouted dashing into Sunnivia's house

"Where is Gwaine?"

"He has been captured by Saxons," Merlin sobbed. "I think the other knights have been too as the Saxons said that he was the fourth knight of Camelot that they had captured in two days."

"We need to rescue them. They are probably being held captive in King Gremian's castle," Arthur said decisively. Merlin nodded his head vigorisly in agreement.

"I'm going with you," Sunnivia growled fiercly. "Edla you need to flee to Camelot and take Dawn with you."

"You need to go with them Sunnivia," Arthur ordered.

"No. I won't go with them. Nothing that you say can change that," Sunnivia said stubbornly.

"We need to go," Arthur commanded. "If you die Sunnivia it will be your fault."

"Hang on... It would be the person who killed her, fault. So unless she planning on killing herself," Merlin wisely said.

"Shut up, Merlin! No one likes a clever clogs."

"GWAINE!" Percival shouted in joy.

"Er, I want to say it is good to see you but it isn't really because we are all trapped in King Gremian's dungeons," joked Elyan.

Sir Leon added, "Well at least it has been interesting. See in that cell over there is Morgana."

"Leon doomed her. Leon told Prince Alexander that she is called Morgana Pendragon and that she is a witch. Alexander got his brother who is a sorcerer to enchant the chains and the whole cell so Morgana cannot escape. They sedated her while they enchanted the cell and since Morgana woke up from the sedative she has tried and failed to escape. She is either going to die or endure a life full of torture and pain," Elyan said sympathetically.

"Oh I'll cheer her up," Gwaine laughed. "Morgana." Morgana turned round and glared at Gwaine. "Smile." Morgana just glared at Gwaine. "Never frown cause you never know. I might be falling in love with your smile. Okay this will cheer you up. If I could rearrange the letters of the alphabet U and I would be next to each other."

"I don't need to rearrange the letters of the alphabet N and O are already next to each other," Morgana replied coldly.

"Okay but you are my heart's desire because if beauty was time you would be eternity." The other knights snorted but Gwaine restrained his laugh. Really he hadn't had this much fun in ages. The look in Morgana's face was priceless. He wasn't really in love with her but he had told Merlin that he would tell Morgana that he loved her as a joke "Without you I dwell in darkness. I love you Morgana."

"Stop saying that."

"I would die a million deaths if it meant I could be with you!"

"Take that last part away and hurry up and die."

"Love is like heaven but can hurt like hell."

"If I was out of this cell, you would be in hell."

"Ooh, spouting poetry my lady," Gwaine mocked. The prisoners heard footsteps approaching and then out of the shadows strolled Alexander. "You look like a princess," Gwaine chortled to Alexander.

"I have come to talk to it." Alexander pointed at Morgana. "So you can shut your face," Alexander yelled at Gwaine. He entered Morgana's prison cell.

"I do have a name you know. In case you have forgotten I am called Morgana." Alexander slapped Morgana in the face.

"You may only speak to people who are above you in ranking if you are given permission. You are bottom ranking so you cannot talk to anyone even the other prisoners unless you are given permission," Alexander ordered. His lips cracked into large evil smile. Morgana gave him an evil smile back so he slapped her again. "Do not think you can look at me like that witch. I am a pr-"

"Lay off my girlfriend, you idiot. She may be a pain in the backside but she's my pain in the backside."

"I AM NOT YOUR GIRLFRIEND AND I NEVER WILL BE!" Morgana raucously shrieked.

Morgana's shrieks clashed with Alexander's shout of, "HOW DARE YOU SHOUT WHEN YOU HAVE NOT BEEN GIVEN PERMISSION, WITCH!" Alexander was shaking with fury but Morgana did not even look the slightest bit scared. He aimed a kick at Morgana but Morgana dodged it receiving a sharp intake of pain in her neck because of the iron collar she wore. His foot hit the cell wall. "You will pay for this Morgana Pendragon."

"How? It was already decided that I am going to die in this godforsaken place."

"I am going to get my father, the King," Alexander fumed before storming off. Morgana laughed coldly. Her ghostly laugh reverberated through the dungeons. The witch turned her face from everyone and her lip began to tremble.

"Honestly Gwaine," Elyan chuckled. "We are going to get killed because of you."

"Well, we are all going to die anyway. Cheer up witchie," Gwaine called to Morgana. "Can't we be friends?" Morgana did not even turn around and make a face. She was enraged by Gwaine. He expected them to be friends. Her being friends with anyone who liked Arthur would never happen.

"I am going to take a leaf out of Gwaine's book. If I am going to die I am going to die offending the enemies and having a laugh at the same time," Percival chortled.

"DDIIIIIIIIIIEEEEE!" yelled a giant of a man with a mane of chocolate brown hair and a tangled beard. This man was King Gremian and he was completely covered in hair and his teeth were rotting. "MORGANA PENDRAGON!" He ordered the guard to open Morgana's cell and he headed in it.

"Oh, I am feeling very popular today. Everyone seems to want to see me," Morgana sneered.

"That's because I love you," said Gwaine.

"SHUT UP! Did my son not tell you the rules," the King angrily shouted.

"Yep. Rule one: We have to call you an ugly swine

Rule two: l have to kiss Morgana

Rule three: You need to send more good looking girls into prison

Rule four: We have to order alcoholic drinks to get drunk

Rule five: We need to kill you," Gwaine chortled completely cracking up.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO SHUT YOUR FACE!"

"First though I need to kill you, ugly swine and everyone loves me too much to make me shut up. Don't you, wichie."

"I AM NOT YOUR GIRLFRIEND YOU IGNORENT PIG! I LOATHE YOU!" yelled Morgana

"Well, knight of Camelot," smirked King Gremian. "Let's see how you feel once we torture your girlfriend. The reason I haven't killed her yet is because I want to have the pleasure of torturing her" He approached Morgana and yanked her hair. Morgana grimaced but put on a face of pure loathing.

"We need to make camp for the night," ordered Arthur

"I'll go and get fire wood," volunteered Sunnivia. Arthur nodded and she left.

"Arthur how are you exactly planning on getting three knights out of the King's dungeons," Merlin asked.

Arthur said, "I swore that I would protect my men."

"Then I swear that I'll protect you or die by your side."

**Yay, last two lines from the leaked out trailer. I am really looking forward to writing the next few chapters. I don't think my Gwaine comedy was that good? It was meant to be really soppy as it was only acting. Gwaine doesn't actually love Morgana but because he is going to die he is having the time of his life teasing her about it. Please review. **


	7. The Traitor

**Thanks for the reviews. This is an interesting chapter and a lot seems to happen in the second half including romance and difficult decisions that need to be made. There is also more Gwaine and Morgana comedy. I know it isn't that great but I tried.**

King Gremian hauled the witch up by her hair nearly ripping it out of her skull. "Now my precious, this is when the fun really begins," he laughed cruelly. Morgana glowered at Gremian like he was an insane brute. King Gremian whistled and almost instantly four soldiers appeared at his side. He commanded them to pin Morgana against the wall. Morgana violently fought them but when they pulled out their weapons she ceased fighting them and let them pin her against the wall.

"Don't worry, Princess Morgana. Gwaine the knight in shining armour shall rescue you from that savage beast. FOR THE LOVE OF MORGANA!" Gwaine shouted.

"Really, King Gremian, Gwaine would be a worse torturer than you," Morgana smirked but she still kicked out at the soldiers.

"We will see. This is for you being a Pendragon." King Gremian kicked Morgana powerfully in the stomach. "And this is for you being a witch." He punched Morgana's nose and blood came spurting out of it. The witch didn't even flinch but flailed around trying to maim the all soldiers pinning her against wall.

"You are just jealous," Morgana rashly said. "Because I could beat you in a battle with my hands tied behind my back and a blindfold covering my eyes."

"GO FOR IT, MY DEAR LOVE!" Gwaine screamed cheering Morgana on.

"You can barely talk when we have locked you in a cell and you can't escape," King Gremian sneered at Morgana.

"But alas, I could have escaped before you enchanted these chains. I wouldn't have been thwarted if it wasn't for your cowardice."

"I know what is happen but King Gremian doesn't have a clue. DIE YOU ARE LOVE WITH MY GIRLFRIEND!" Gwaine shouted pretending to tremble with rage. "Love is very easy to mistake for hate. You may seem drunken King Gremian but you are intoxicated with Morgana Pendragon."

After Gwaine had said this King Gremian went metal and starting thrashing out at Morgana trying to make Morgana inflict as much pain as possible.

"Is that it? Well it was more like a prisoner flogging session than torture," Morgana said though blood was gushing out of her nose, her lip was swollen and it looked like she had broken several bones in her left foot.

Gwaine was now sitting on Percival's back and singing," A handsome knight came riding by, riding by, riding by, a handsome knight came riding by, riding on his Percie."

"SHUT UP!" yelled King Gremian and Morgana in harmony.

"WITCH! Remember rule number one is to-"

"Call you an ugly swine. I prefer Rule 5, though, which is to kill you. You know in most stories the knight kills the bad person and saves the princess so they can live happily ever after. So you are doomed," interrupted Gwaine.

"Are you five? NO ONE EVER LIVES HAPPILY EVER AFTER!" yelled Morgana.

"If you are not quiet. THE WITCH AND HER LOVER! Then I will have to cut out both of your tongues," snarled King Gremian. He ordered the guards to lock Morgana's prison cell and stormed out of the dungeons.

"Well I did manage to make him leave you alone, witchie," Gwaine snorted.

"This is it," said Arthur pointing to a large castle.

"So Arthur what's the plan," Sunnivia asked. Merlin, Sunnivia and Arthur were hiding behind a bush and peering at the castle that loomed overhead.

"To get us and the knights out of there alive," Arthur briefly replied.

"In other words it is a make it up as you go along plan," Merlin said.

"Well done, Merlin. That is one of the first things you have managed to figure out all by yourself," laughed Arthur.

"Well it is your favourite plan. Oh look, I have a better idea." Merlin pointed at two guards heading towards them. "See those guards. Well, let's slaughter them and steal their uniforms." Arthur drew his sword from his sheath waiting for the two guards to pass. Pouncing out Arthur took the soldiers by surprise and pierced one of them in the heart. Sunnivia took the fallen guard's sword and killed the other guard.

"Wonders do never cease," Arthur whispered, surprised at Sunnivia's fighting skills.

"There are only two uniforms but I really need to come with you," Sunnivia pointed out.

"Me and Arthur will change into the soldier's uniforms and you will be our prisoner. It will give us a good excuse to go down to the dungeons where the knights should be," Merlin answered.

"You won't have paid your taxes so we shall be locking you up in prison," said Arthur. Merlin and Arthur started dragging Sunnivia to the castle as they had changed into their soldier's uniforms. "When we get there, start struggling Sunnivia. We can ask another soldier to help us take you to the dungeons. The soldier will help drag you to the dungeons. This will make us end up there as the soldier should know where the dungeons are."

"You are the woman of all women Morgana," mocked Gwaine. "Without you I cannot even hope to live. It's funny to think that I fell in love with the person I hated the most, but what's funnier is that I have fallen in love with the person I said to myself I would never fall for."

"SHUT UP YOU FLITHY PIECE OF DIRT! DO NOT EVEN THINK THAT YOU CAN FLIRT!" yelled Morgana in rage.

"Yay! More poetry. Soon you will be spouting poetry saying:

'I love you Gwaine,

You are never to blame,

You are very sane,

I love you Gwaine,'"sang Gwaine.

Three soldiers entered dragging a struggling girl with flaming red hair.

"Guards please can I be put in Morgana's cell. I love her and the bars that keep us apart are driving me insane. THIS IS HELL!"

One of the guards took off his helmet to reveal that he was Merlin and said, "Hello Gwaine." Arthur stabbed the other guard in the back.

"Are you insane, Gwaine?" asked Arthur.

"Spouting poetry Arthur?" chortled Gwaine.

"Not purposely. These guards here are so gullible. Look what I have got. I asked to get the keys to lock Sunnivia in jail and they gave me the every key to every prison cell in this dungeon." Arthur triumphantly held up keys.

"What was that about Morgana?" asked Merlin curiously as Arthur unlocked the cell with the knights of Camelot.

"She is over there," Sir Leon replied sympathetically. Morgana was standing up with a look of uttermost loathing on her face.

"Well it is your fault. You can't help her Arthur. The chains are enchanted so they cannot be broken or unlocked with anything but the key and they also drain all of her magic for her. Since the only keys to free her from the chains are kept under lock and key, with Prince Alexander and a sorcerer guarding them, the chances of freeing her is zero," Elyan said sadly.

"Now how long do we have here do you reckon?" Arthur asked.

"Normally someone comes round and checks the dungeons every ten minutes," Percival whispered.

"We need to think of a way to try and get us out of here unharmed," Arthur stated.

"Well there is only one more guard uniform," Leon pointed out. "So we can't use the same idea as how we got in here."

We could just make a run for it as you said the guards are reeeaaalllllyy stupid," suggested Gwaine. "It took at least ten guards to force Morgana in the collar. She wasn't using magic and she had no weapons. In fact the guards didn't even know that she possessed magic."

"Well then does everyone agree that we should just make a run for it?" The knights merely nodded. Arthur felt about leaving Morgana at the mercy of these blood thirsty brutes and Gwaine also felt really bad about leaving Morgana behind especially after he had been mocking at her all day but Merlin felt the worst about leaving Morgana behind. She had once been so beautiful but now she had bruises all over her body and a bit of a distorted face. Underneath it all Merlin could still sense her beauty and Merlin knew that he would happily give his life for Morgana to return to the girl that he had first known. Maybe he had fallen for her. He felt strange whenever Morgana's name was mentioned but this was probably out of sympathy and hate. Merlin tried to shake off this feeling but he could not. He had never killed Morgana even when she was completely at his mercy. He was going to have to make the decision of choosing to rescue Morgana or his fulfil destiny. He pondered over this for some time while Arthur and the knights were still debating what to do.

Unfortunately for Arthur, Merlin and the knights, Prince Alexander and a handful of guards were watching them from behind a cell.

"Right. I shall grab the girl with the flaming ginger hair and place my sword against her neck and you three go and make sure that Morgana, the black haired girl locked in the cell, is completely at your mercy," Alexander ordered in an extremely quiet voice. Alexander quietly took sword out of his sheath and grabbed Sunnivia placing his sword against Sunnivia's throat. Alexander gazed at Sunnivia's face for a moment. He could see every one of Sunnivia's eyelashes as their faces were extremely close. For a moment he almost wanted to kiss her but thought better of it. Alexander had never seen anybody so beautiful. Finally Alexander managed to get out of this trance. "Drop your weapons or she dies," Alexander commanded sonorously. Alexander felt like he would never be able to kill Sunnivia as she was too beautiful and her lips were too enduring. She had a distinct scent of sweet roses and of something flaming hot. One of guards pointed his sword through the bars of Morgana's prison cell directly at Morgana's heart too.

Morgana coldly laughed and said, "Nobody ever learns. Dying is the easy part of life. It is torture, especially from Gwaine that you should be worried about."

"Also your half-sister Morgana Pendragon shall die too," Alexander declared. Arthur, Merlin and the knights all dropped their weapons.

"You're a coward. Who the hell are yo-" Arthur asked

"I am Prince Alexander," Alexander snarled. "Son of King Gremian the first."

"Oh yes, I suppose you are." Alexander whistled and at least fifty soldiers came instantly at his side.

"Chain everyone. Leave Morgana Pendragon in her cell though," ordered Alexander. "We are going to see the King."

"Sire, let me take the girl," a guard offered.

"No, I shall hold her in case the other guards do not restrain the other prisoners properly and let them escape. I need to make sure that we will always have a sword against one of the enemy's throats." Alexander's real reason for holding Sunnivia with a sword against her throat, was he knew that she would come to no harm if he was the one with her at his mercy. Alexander now knew what Gwaine meant when he had said 'Love is like heaven but can hurt like hell.' He truly felt that he was in love at last.

It took Alexander and the guards a good fifteen minutes to get the prisoners up to the throne room. He had stared blissfully at Sunnivia's face for ages until she had said, "What are you looking at."

Alexander had lamely replied, "I think I recognise you but I cannot remember where from."

"Father," Alexander boomed still clutching Sunnivia while striding into the throne room. "Look who has turned up."

"ARTHUR PENDRAGON!" shouted King Gremian in an extremely low voice. "Ah ha. I would torture you but I already have your dear sister to torture so..." King Gremian threw a knife at Arthur's heart but fortunately the knife stopped in its tracks and fell to the ground. Suddenly everybody in the room except from Merlin, Arthur, Alexander, Sunnivia and the knights were thrown backwards. A figure lurked in the shadows, his face was hidden by the darkness but you could make out his silhouette to see that he was wearing a cloak and with his hood up.

"Hurry, this way," beckoned the figure but everybody was too busy staring at Prince Alexander who was still holding his sword against Sunnivia's throat. Alexander's sword clattered as it hit the ground and he turned Sunnivia round so that she was facing him. Sunnivia could foretell what was about to happen so she wrapped her arms round his waist. Their faces drew nearer to each other and they quickly began to kiss blissfully like they had never done before. Sunnivia and Alexander could barely hear Gwaine wolf whistling in the background. All they knew was that they were meant to be together and they never wanted to part. Alexander wanted to be stuck in this moment forever as he knew that he and Sunnivia would probably never see each over again.

They were only brought back into reality when Arthur yelled, "What kind of time do you call this?"

"Please come with us," begged Sunnivia.

Alexander gazed at her blissfully conflicted for a second but then said, "I am sorry but I can't. I can't betray my father and be friends with _him_. You need to go as you are in danger when you're in this kingdom as you have been seen consorting with _him_. "Alexander's eyes pierced into Arthur's.

"Sunnivia, please. Come on we need to leave," pleaded Arthur.

"No I will not leave and nothing you can say will change that," Sunnivia stubbornly snarled. She had her arms crossed and was wearing a stern look on her good natured face.

Arthur injected an arrow into her arm and said, "I am truly sorry Sunnivia I really am." Sunnivia's legs collapsed but luckily Alexander had a firm hold of her in his arms.

"What have you done to her," sobbed Alexander.

"It is just a sedative. I stole it off the slave trader," Arthur answered.

"I would carry her," Percival grunted flexing his muscles, "but I have not eaten for three and a half days and the only thing I have drunk has been the water that has leaked through the dungeon roof."

"It is alright I shall manage," Arthur called lifting Sunnivia over his shoulder. "So long Prince Alexander."

"Wait. Take your sword," Alexander said passing Excalibur to Arthur.

"This way," murmured the cloaked figure heading out of the door. The knights and Arthur, who was carrying Sunnivia, followed the figure. Merlin stayed motionless as he had to make the decision. Should he sacrifice Morgana or his destiny?

**Thanks for reading. Merlin has a pretty hard decision to make.** **I promise you that Mordred and Aithusa will be turning up very soon. I'll hint that Sunnivia and Alexander will confront each other again but I don't know when so it could be quite a while. I don't think I will be doing any more Gwaine/Morgana comedy unless you want me to. Please review as it makes me really happy and motivated.**


	8. Aithusa's Flight

**Thanks for the reviews. I have got a few new readers so I tried to update it fast. There will be some more Gwaine and Morgana banter but it might be a while yet. Mordred and Aithusa are both in this chapter so enjoy!**

Merlin was completely conflicted between the choices. Would he really sacrifice his life's ambition for a girl who hated him and sought him dead? Would he really risk so many lives for this girl? He felt strange every time this girl's name was mentioned but surely that was because he sympathised what she had become, rather than any other reason.

"What are you doing?" called Alexander. "You need to leave now, unless you wish to die."

Merlin dashed out of the room tears streaming down his face. He was going to sacrifice the girl whom he had once been best friends with, for his destiny. The vivid memory of seeing Morgana for the first time filled his brain.

_He was walking into Morgana's chambers to give her the sleeping draft Gaius has prepared for her. He smiled to himself at her beauty._

_"You know, I've been thinking about Arthur. I wouldn't touch him with a lance pole. Pass me that dress, will you Gwen?" Morgana had said sweetly mistaking him for Gwen. He had hesitated for a second but had decided to pass Morgana her dress. _

_"I mean, the man's a total jouster. And just because I'm the King's ward, doesn't mean I have to accompany him to the feast, does it?" He had then placed the dress on the screen and quickly hurried away. "Well, does it?"_

_"Mm-Mmm," he had said in a high pitched impression of Gwen_

_"If he wants me to go, then he should invite me, and he hasn't. So do you know what that means?"_

_"Mm-Mmm." He had been completely lost for what to do._

_"Where are you?" Morgana had asked._

_He had hidden behind one of Morgana's cloaks while she had looked over the screen for Gwen._

_"Here," he said in the high pitched voice._

_"It means I'm going by myself." He had put down Morgana's cloak and had started to walk out the room until-_

_"I need some help with this fastening." Then luckily Gwen had come to save him._

Merlin had never dreamt in a thousand years that he would feel like this about sacrificing the enemy but the enemy wasn't just any enemy. The enemy was Morgana Pendragon. The girl whom had the silkiest, raven black hair he had ever seen cascading down her face with a sweet and flowery scent; who had beautiful emerald eyes which he had seen water in sadness and shoot daggers when she had been angry and her pale skin which was as white as snow at times it made her look ghostlike. The vivid memory of her fleeing to Gaius's chamber petrified because she had magic. Merlin felt bad about this because if she had told her he had magic at this point, she might have still been the Morgana that he had once known. He closed his eyes imagining what might have happened if he told Morgana about his magic.

_"He won't. I don't want any more remedies. They won't do any good. It's magic, Merlin," he can hear Morgana's worried voice say._

_"I know how you are feeling. I went through the same thing. Leoht." a ball of light appeared in his hand._

_"You have magic?" Morgana's face had a look of surprise and a hint of excitement on it._

_"Yes, I was born with it. Magic isn't something to fear. It is neither good nor bad. It just depends on how the user uses the magic."_

_"It is something to fear if you have Uther as a guardian."_

_"I promise I won't let anything happen to you Morgana. I will guard your secret with my life and if Uther finds out your secret I will take you away from here. I am more powerful then you can imagine." Morgana's teary eyes brightened a bit and she managed to let out a small smile._

Well you can't have everything in life and he would just have to cope with it.

Alexander had lain down on the floor to trick his father and the guards into thinking that he had been unconscious when Arthur and his friends had escaped.

"WHERE THE HELL IS ARTHUR!" roared King Gremian. Alexander pretended just to have regained his consciousness, so he was rubbing his eyes and standing up.

"FATHER! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" screamed Alexander. King Gremian stormed out of the throne room, his feet almost cracking the stone slabs. Alexander followed his father and he ended up in the dungeons.

"By the looks on your faces I can tell that Arthur, Merlin and knights have thwarted you and managed to escape. I want to thank you for removing that monster from the dungeon though. I am finally torture free," Morgana sneered.

"ONE MORE WORD WITCH AND I WILL CUT OFF YOUR TONGUE!" boomed King Gremian. "Just our luck, Alexander. The witch is still captive so her lover and her brother will come back to rescue her." Morgana rolled her eyes at this but didn't dare speak a word.

"Er father, I don't think they will come back for her. Her brother hates her and the person who said he loved her, isn't in love with her. The power hungry witch has apparently tried to take over Camelot numerous times. "

"And what do you know about love? You have never even been in love."

"Well..." muttered Alexander.

"Don't lie to me. That knight was infatuated with Morgana and would never leave without her." Morgana rolled her eyes again, this king was even more stupid then Arthur. It had been so obvious her and Gwaine weren't in love especially since she had been shouting at him the whole time and he had been barely able to restrain his laughter.

"But father, that knight has never been in love with the witch," Alexander said, pleading the King to believe him.

"I know everything about love and that knight was defiantly in love with the witch. You could see in his eyes." This confirmed Alexander's suspicions of his father not knowing anything about love.

"Guards," the King roared. "Give the witch something to eat and drink. Then swear to me that you will make sure she is moved up to the throne room and that she cannot escape. Make sure there are guards on constant watch of her."

"But father th-"

"You will do as I say," ordered King Gremian. Alexander nodded mutely and began to give the guards orders.

"Hurry," the cloaked figure murmured. Arthur (who was carrying Sunnivia) and the knights were running after the cloaked figure and they entered the thicket of the forest.

"Wait," Arthur commanded so everybody stopped in their tracks. "Where the hell is Merlin?"

"I'm here," Merlin panted running towards them.

"Who are you?" asked Arthur to the cloaked figure. "How can we know trust you, as you have magic?"

The figure pulled down his hood to reveal that he was a dark haired teenager. His main feature was his aqua blue eyes that could almost put people into a trance. "My name is Mordred," spoke the figure in barely a whisper.

"Hang on. You look kind of familiar and you name seems very familiar too," Arthur said.

"You saved my life when I was a child. I was the Druid boy that Uther was hunting for but your sister begged you to save me. Out of the kindness of your heart you disobeyed your father and saved me," Mordred said quietly.

"Did you make the dagger drop?" asked Sir Leon curiously.

"Did you blast the guards back?" questioned Gwaine in awe.

"Yes, I did. I wished to save Arthur's life as I am forever in debt to him."

"How did you know we were trapped," Merlin interrogated. Mordred gave Merlin a semi-dark look.

"There was rumour that knights of Camelot were being held captive. I went to rescue the knights as I knew that I could defeat all of the guards easily."

"How do we know that you are not in league with Morgana though," blurted out Merlin. Arthur glared at Merlin.

_Nice try Emrys_ Mordred said telepathically.

"Well if was in league with Morgana then I would have saved her life and rescued her out of that castle's dungeons," Mordred whispered confidently.

"How do you know that?" asked Elyan.

"The guards of the castle were at the nearby tavern and th-"

"Tavern? Where?" demanded Gwaine, excitedly.

"Gwaine, we are in King Gremian's kingdom so walking into a tavern would be equivalent to committing suicide," Arthur mocked, annoyingly rolling his eyes.

"Anyway the guards were arguing over who captured Morgana," Mordred continued. "They debated claiming that they had captured her for some time until another guard came along and said that she had walked in of her own accord. That annoyed the guards so it must have been true."

"We need to go and find food and shelter," Arthur stated. "We shall head away from Camelot until all the knights are completely recovered from being locked in prison. King Gremian will be expecting us to head straight for Camelot so it will probably confuse them. Mordred, I hate to say this but you should make yourself scarce."

"But Arthur what has he done," questioned Gwaine. "Even though he has magic that doesn't mean that he is evil. I have travelled the whole of this country and came across magical people who are good and bad." Gwaine stopped. Something was wrong. Why wasn't Merlin backing him up? Merlin has magic and would probably love to have someone magical around Arthur, to make Arthur think differently about magic. Merlin must not trust Mordred. It was too late; the damage had already been done.

"Let me sleep on it. We need to go right now," Arthur reluctantly orders hauling Sunnivia back over his shoulder.

_Why are you here Mordred? _Merlin telepathically inquired.

_To get my revenge. You tried to kill me when I had done nothing wrong. I thought Alvarr was just trying to make Camelot a haven for magical people._

_I won't let you hurt Arthur or Gaius or Gwen or Gwaine or any of my friends._

_I would not hurt someone that has saved my life. Why would I want to hurt any of your friends that would just get me into trouble?_ Relief flooded through Merlin.

_What is your revenge?_

_You shall see._

A couple of days had passed since the calamity of Arthur, Merlin and Sunnivia rescuing the knights. Morgana had been moved to the meeting chambers and was now chained there. Her magic was still being drained by the chains and there was no way to escape. In the day important meetings happened and Morgana overheard what they said. Every time during the day whenever someone passed they would kick out at her. Sometimes though a servant would pass and purposely drop some food as they pitied her. At night the meeting chambers would be deserted and Morgana would be alone except from the odd guard that would check that she hadn't impossibly escaped.

Today King Gremian was holding an important meeting about taking over Callolith, the heart of King Stewart's kingdom. King Stewart was Princess Mithian's father and since King Stewart had had a fatal illness King Gremian had been taking over parts of Stewart's kingdom.

"Ready your cavalry Alexander and make sure the infantry are ready too;" King Gremian commanded powerfully.

"I will father." Alexander made to leave the room.

"Wait Alexander. There hasn't been any word on Arthur being sighted?"

"No, father."

"That has been two days. WITCH! You have permission to speak. Why hasn't Arthur or your lover come to rescue you?"

I tried to tell you two days ago but you wouldn't listen," Morgana eerily said in barely a whisper.

"TELL ME!"

"Well my brother I purely loathe each other and the knight doesn't actually love me. He is a joker and was only trying to annoy me."

"ARE YOU TELLING THE TRUTH?"

"Why would I lie to you? I am completely at your mercy."

"The mind of a witch is an insane and complex thing."

"Well at least it is not straightforward like your mind," Morgana abruptly jeered.

"HOW DARE YOU! I have no use for you so I will kill you painfully," King Gremian roared. "First I will carve out your heart so I can put it on display for all to see. The heart of the witch, Morgana Pendragon." Morgana's face showed a look of terror before changing into a face of pure smugness.

"Well if there is no Gwaine torture involved then it can't be too bad." This remark just infuriated King Gremian and made him approach Morgana at an alarmingly quick pace.

Suddenly there was a rumbling noise from the roof and some of blasted down. A white dragon flew in and said, "Sorry to ruin your party Master whatever your name is. I have a ride for Morgana Pendragon. The seer. The High Priestess of the Old Religion. The person who is said to bring back the old ways." Aithusa breathed on Morgana's chains and suddenly they disintegrated into dust.

"Think twice before you try and kill a WITCH! I will follow Gwaine's rule number one and call you an ugly swine," Morgana yelled laughing. Morgana climbed adeptly onto Aithusa back. "And one last thing. I SHALL HAVE MY REVENGE!

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter thanks for reading. Why Aithusa and Mordred helped Morgana and Arthur will be further explored in the next chapter. I was thinking about writing other fanfics about the characters I have made up backgrounds eg. Sunnivia and Alexander. Just like a few chapters because in this fanfic I am not really going to explore their backgrounds. What do you think? Please review. **


	9. The Trouble with Taverns

**Thanks for reading so far. This chapter may not seem the most exciting but it has a few important points in it. I would like to thank:**

_**TJTMaria**_

_**Dawn Ruthless**_

_**maryamT**_

_**Autumn Moon Fae**_

_**Chocolate Honey Apples**_

_**Starzinmieyez**_

_**And all the guest reviews**_

**For reviewing this story. I would like to thank all the followers as well as you all make my day.**

The witch barely felt she had an ounce of strength left and she was quaking violently but fortunately her will to live kept her clinging onto Aithusa. If her will to live hadn't been strong then she would have died long ago. Just when Morgana thought that she could barely cling on, Aithusa gradually started to descend. Night had really come and Morgana couldn't see well so she didn't even notice that they had started to decend. She had been dreading the landing, the whole flight, but luckily Aithusa landed so smoothly that she didn't even notice that they had landed. Aithusa had grown vastly in the three years since Morgana had last seen him and he was about half the size of Kilgharrah. Her scales were lustrous but hardy and Morgana could see why dragons were feared by all. Dragons were creatures of great power and would be near impossible to slay.

Aithusa bent down as low to the ground as she could but even then Morgana toppled off her back. Aithusa stared sympathetically at Morgana. The High Priestess looked very vulnerable as she could barely haul herself onto her feet. The placid dragon breathed her magic over Morgana who collapsed on the soft mossy bed. Aithusa had used a simple but powerful enchantment which had caused Morgana to fall into a deep sleep. The young dragon now curled up in a ball around the witch's tender body to provide her warmth on this freezing night.

When Morgana woke up she found herself snugly tucked under Aithusa's wing. She stood up easily as she has finally recovered from the trauma of last night.

"So you are awake Morgana," announced Aithusa.

"Thank you. I will be forever in debt to you."

"Don't worry about that. It is I who should forever in debt to you. You are destined for greatness and shall bring back the old ways. My name is Aithusa."

"How did you know that I was about to die? Both times?" Morgana inquired inquisitivly.

"You are my kin. I felt your pain and fear. I am also your soul dragon."

"Soul dragon?"

"Well Kilgharrah, the Great Dragon, told me that when a dragon lives it always pledges its services to one human until that human is deceased and the dragon gives its services to another human," explained Aithusa. "Take Kilgharrah for example when he was first born he gave his gave his services to a sorcerer and when that sorcerer died he gave his services to another sorcerer and so on. Now his services lie with Emrys."

"Emrys I knew it," injected Morgana fiercely.

"My services are not with Emrys though because I can be the soul dragon of one human at a time and that human is you."

"What about Dragonlords though I thought they were the ones that dragons pledged their services to?" questioned Morgana curiously.

"Well normally only Dragonlords get soul dragons but because there is only one Dragonlord left and he already has a soul dragon. I suppose the magic has bonded me to one of the Dragonlord's kin."

"So do you get to choose who you pledge your services to?"

"Sadly no our magic tells us who we are the soul dragon of and we cannot disobey the person who we are the soul dragon of even if a Dragonlord tells us not to do it. We still have to do what Dragonlords say unless the person that I am a soul dragon to commands me not to do it." Aithusa paused. "Are you feeling alright to travel?" Morgana merely nodded as she was still slightly confused by what Aithusa had told her. "Where do you want to go?"

"To the woods beside Camelot, please," Morgana almost cackled. "I am going to make Arthur regret that he left me with that oaf, Gremian." Aithusa bowed down and Morgana clambered on her scaly back. Spreading out her wings, Aithusa took off with massive power. The flight took a matter of minutes and before Morgana knew it they had landed.

"Thank you Aithusa," beamed Morgana who was dismounting Aithusa cautiously.

"Wait Morgana. The dochraid was looking for you."

"How do you know?"

"I am a dragon so I can go anywhere I wished and I wished to seek out the dochraid because I am desperate to learn as much as I can about the Old Religion. If you ever require my assistance again search for me inside your mind and speak to me."

"How am I meant to do that" asked Morgana curiously.

"Close your eyes and search your mind for me. There is a magical link that will forever bond us until one of us die. Once you have found this link speak to me in your head. It will come into my head telepathically. So long, priestess."

Stage one of revenge about to begin, thought Morgana.

"We need to be careful," warned Arthur. "Gremian's men are everywhere. We need to sneak out of Gremian's Kingdom unnoticed."

"Well I hope we get caught," snarled Sunnivia. Since they had escaped from King Gremian's castle, all Sunnivia had done was snap and snarl. Merlin had tried to soothe her and stop her thinking irrationally but had failed drastically. Sunnivia had had to been basically hauled everywhere. Arthur had even had sedate her again as she had ran away towards King Gremain's castle which would obviously result in her death. Sunnivia was beginning to lose her will to live and she barely ate anything. Arthur sprinted from this clump of trees which they were taken cover in to the next. Merlin and Percival took one of Sunnivia's arms each and fled after Arthur. Gwaine, Elyan and Leon shot behind them.

"That was close," gasped Arthur. Merlin turned round to see King Gremian's soldiers charging at them.

"Well that was the easy part." The knights, Merlin and Sunnivia all sprinted as fast as they could until they found a rather large village in which Gwaine made a detour to the tavern.

"Where the hell has Gwaine gone?"

"Come on Arthur I thought you knew Gwaine better than this," chuckled Percival. He pointed to the tavern.

"Everyone stay outside and will rescue that idiot." Arthur stormed into the tavern. When he entered the tavern silence fell upon everyone. "Gwaine you idiot. What are you doing in here?"

"Are we not in your Kingdom," asked Gwaine in an undertone. Arthur shook his head vigorisly.

"Prince Alexander to what do I owe this pleasure," asked the barmaid mistaking Arthur for Prince Alexander.

"Six tankards of mead," ordered Arthur in a mock disdainful impression of Prince Alexander. Now he could see why a deathly silence had fallen among everyone since he had walked in.

"Go and tell everyone to come in," hissed Arthur to Gwaine. "I have an idea." Hastily Gwaine led the rest of the knights, Sunnivia and Merlin into the tavern. Soon everybody was staring at the strange crowd of people that 'Prince Alexander' had chosen to make aquintences with.

"Here you are Prince Alexander," the barmaid said. Merlin gave Arthur a quizzical look.

"Go along with me being Prince Alexander," Arthur hissed.

"Er... Arthur, sorry to disappoint you but there is about a hundred soldiers outside this tavern and some are about to get in."

"HIDE UNDER THE TABLES!" Arthur yelled at them. The knights, Sunnivia and Merlin all dived under the tables with the rest of the people following their suit. Abruptly a few soldiers burst into the tavern.

"WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING HERE!" boomed Arthur imitating Alexander's voice.

"A-A-Arthur w-was s-s-spotted nearby an-" stuttered a nervous looking soldier mistaking Arthur for Prince Alexander.

"YOU MEAN YOU LET HIM ESCAPE!"

"I am sorry Prince Alexander. "

"WELL HE DEFIANTLY ISN'T IN THIS TAVERN SO GO AND LOOK FOR HIM!" yelled Arthur. The soldiers bowed their heads and hastily left.

"Arthur what a-" Merlin questioned.

"Merlin you dollophead. Y"

"That is my word," Merlin injected.

"You have told the whole of the tavern my true identity."

"ARTHUR PENDRAGON IS IN THE TAVERN!" screamed a man.

"That's the trouble with taverns. People only like you if you buy them a drink," stated Gwaine. Numerous soldiers were bursting through the doors.

"OUT THE WINDOW!" yelled Arthur who dashed towards an open window at the back of the tavern and vaulted out the window. Merlin and Percival lifted Sunnivia out the window and then jumped out of the window with the rest of the knights hot at their heels.

"You can't catch us," chortled Gwaine as he leapt out the window. "And tell that ugly swine of a King that you have that my plans will soon be complete to kill him." Merlin, Arthur, Mordred, Sunnivia and the knights ran as fast as they could towards the shelter of the woods when numerous soldiers stopped them in their tracks.

"There is too many of them," Sir Leon called stating the obvious.

"There isn't for me," eerily hissed Mordred. His eyes flickered gold and suddenly all the soldiers were blasted backwards.

"Come on," Arthur ordered and he darted into the woods with everyone following.

My revenge is falling into place Emrys Mordred mocked telepathically.

It was pitch black when Arthur, Merlin, Sunnivia, Mordred and the knights ceased running.

"Let's make camp. I'll gather fire wood," Arthur called.

"May I come with you," inquired Mordred. Arthur nodded silently.

I'm warning you Mordred. If you harm him in any sort of way, I will not rest until I have killed him, Merlin telepathically threatened.

Why worry so much Emrys. If he knew who you really were he'd kill you

Arthur would never sentence me to death. Is this your revenge to tell Arthur who I really am.

No my revenge is to shatter your destiny and your destiny alone. I will not damage Arthur's destiny.

So you are going to kill me.

Killing you is barely a big revenge, Emrys. I will not kill you yet. I will torture you- mentally.

The scorching sun was blazing up on Camelot in the blood red sky. Camelot was tranquil as everyone was tucked away in their beds apart from a few guards who were patrolling and ensuring that the citazens were safe. It was only dawn but a young woman's silhouette was visible through a majestic window of the castle. She was tensely staring at the gates of Camelot as though she was waiting for someone to appear. She was. Queen Guinevere Pendragon had stressfully been awaiting the arrival of her husband and knights.

Gwen couldn't help feeling that this ominous red sky was a bad omen. She had heard rumours, her whole life, of deaths happening whenever there was a red sky in the morning. She tried to shake off this feeling but failed drastically. Gwen was restlessly pacing at the thought of this superstitious nonsense so she decided to go and have a quick search of the woods to see if she could find Arthur. Quickly changing into her lavender dress, Gwen glided out the room.

As Gwen gracefully walked out she noticed some snow white flowers so she picked a few and wove them into her hair.

Crack.

Gwen bolted round alarmed at this noise. Relief flooded through Gwen's body as discovered it was only a beige deer. She turned around crashing into someone who stumbled backwards.

"I am terr-" Gwen cut herself off. It had taken her two seconds to notice that the person was dressed in black and that her face was recognisable. It was her former mistress- Morgana Pendragon.

"Good morning, my lady. I thought we might play a little game," taunted Morgana in a play voice.

**Thanks for reading. I am missing writing the funny Gwaine and Morgana banter already so it will only be a few chapters until you see it again. I am looking forward to writing the next chapter where Morgana and Gwen will battle each other. You might be getting bored of me saying this but please review. Thanks!**


	10. Morgana v Gwen

**So something big happens in this chapter which has something to do with Mordred…**

"Morgana, if you have done anything to Arthur then I will never forgive you," Gwen threatened coldly.

"Are you worried about you beloved Arthur? You shouldn't be. Your beloved Arthur left his dear sister at the mercy of some animals that were going to carve her heart out," Morgana hissed softly causing Gwen to look horrified. "The truth hurts doesn't it?"

"You would never save Arthur's life. Your goal in life seems to be to kill Arthur and take over the throne of Camelot so why should he have saved yours?" Gwen stated.

"And Alas I would have succeeded in killing Arthur if it wasn't for Emrys. Emrys, my destiny and doom, manages to continuously thwart me. Why am I telling you this, though, when I am going to kill you? You leave me no choice, my lady."

"You always have a choice."

"Not always. You have got in the way of my destiny so you shall have to pay for that with your life," whispered Morgana eerily.

"If you think your destiny is to become Queen of Camelot, you're wrong."

"Part of my destiny is as clear of cut glass but I shall not tell you my destiny is?" mocked Morgana. Morgana, to Gwen's uttermost surprise, passed her a sword which Gwen tentatively took, wondering if it was some sort of trick. "The game is simple to understand. I give you half a minute's head start and you flee for your life unless you just want to die quickly. Magic is banned. What are you waiting for? Run save yourself," Morgana said in no more than a soft whisper staring with a smile at Gwen who was sprinting into the distance. Morgana's eyes flashed gold while she was hauntingly smiling at Gwen. Gwen was fleeing for her life and whatever she did she knew she couldn't win. Even with Arthur's sword fighting training Gwen knew that she would drastically lose in a sword fighting duel against Morgana. Morgana was also a faster runner than her. Even if Morgana didn't use her magic Gwen knew the odds weren't in her favour. Her best hope to get out of this situation alive was to deceive Morgana and that was a lot easier said than done. Gwen stumbled over a tree root and noticed a hole in the ground that she could just manage to squeeze into, if she wanted. Fleeing towards a delicate branch, she tore a bit of material off her dress. Gwen snapped the branch so it was just hanging on the tree and placed the piece of fabric from her dress on top of it. She then darted into the hole in the ground before Morgana came almost skipping towards her.

"Come out my little Queen. Dying is easy," Morgana taunted in her soft but dangerous voice. Gwen was sickened to witness Morgana smiling serenely as she jogged past Gwen's hiding place. Spotting the fabric off of Gwen's dress hanging off the tree, Morgana set off in that direction. How could anyone be so calm and happy when they were about to kill someone? Maybe Morgana wasn't going to kill her? Gwen knew whatever was going to happen to her, wouldn't be good.

Morgana's swift movements were so quiet that she could have been mistaken for a lone mouse scampering through the forest. She had always had a flair for hunting and hiding. Morgana had known the tricks of the trade since she was knee high but she supposed it was more of an instinct rather than something she had learnt. That instinct was now telling her to climb up to a high point of the forest so she could try and spy Gwen. Morgana had always had a knack for spotting animals when she had hunted for them before. This time it was no different and it literally took her eyes two second to find Gwen's silhouette stumbling around. Morgana didn't seem to mind that Gwen was very near the entrance to Camelot or that she would never catch Gwen with enough time to kill her before she entered Camelot.

Gwen deeply sighed as her attempt at trying to deceive Morgana had been successful. Morgana had vanished into the haze but Gwen knew that she was still far from safe. Gwen hastily stumbled out of her hiding place and began to race in the direction she thought Camelot was in.

Gwen was relieved when she paced through the gates of Camelot to the safety of the city. Gwen couldn't shake the nagging feeling that the 'game' with Morgana was not over. She had managed to escape too easily for that? Trembling past the guards, Gwen decided against telling them her traumatic experience. The guards would surely tell Arthur what happened when he returned and she didn't want Arthur to be out of his mind with worry. Arthur would also insist on Gwen not leaving the castle unaccompanied by knights and she liked having the treat of time to herself which was a rare occurrence being Queen.

Entering her chambers Gwen rested her head against the door breathing heavily. Gwen was too terrified and exhausted to notice that Morgana has been sitting, slouched on her chair brandishing a sword.

"Your chambers are bit lavish, my lady, and the lack of the colour black riles me," Morgana mocked softly. Gwen jolted around her chestnut eyes widened in fear. "I am sorry my little Queen. Did I give you a big fright?"

Gwen opened her mouth to speak but as hard as she tried to talk or even scream no sound came out.

"I don't want anyone to hear your death scream as those people will get too excited about your death. I want the credit of murdering you too as it is such an honour and I will be famous," Morgana explained. "That is why I cast a simple enchantment to make you silent." Gwen clutched the sword that Morgana had given to her earlier and began to carve something into the wall. After she had finished, it read: YOU ARE ALREADY INFAMOUS.

"Oh my little Queen it is nice to know that you trust me with big secrets but I and the rest of the world already know that you are infamous," Morgana leered. On this note Gwen bounded from the room with Morgana right behind her. "AND GWEN!" Morgana yelled. "I SET ALL OF ARTHUR'S DOGS AND HORSES FREE SO ALL OF CAMELOT'S USELESS GUARDS WILL BE IN THE SQUARE SEARCHING FOR THEM!"

Gwen headed towards the door and tried to open it but the door was locked. Jolting around Gwen sword clashed against Morgana's.

"May the best Queen win," Morgana laughed coldly. Morgana's cold laugh reverberated round the room showing no trace of amusement. Lunging for Gwen's head, Morgana's attack was intercepted by Gwen's lethal sword. Morgana's eyes flickered gold making the room soundproof. Gwen had drastically improved at sword fighting, there was no denying it, but Morgana at a young age had been able to beat men twice the size of her so the match looked like it was in Morgana's favour. They fought for a while, their swords clanging against their opponents swords until Morgana grew tired of fighting. Morgana knew that she could beat Gwen in two seconds but she had been greatly weakened as she had barely eaten anything in a week Morgana clenched her sword in her hand so it was pointing towards the ground. Gwen held her sword loosely surprised that Morgana had ceased attacking her. In a movement that was so hasty that it was impossible to make out, Morgana struck at Gwen's sword which flew out of Gwen's hand. Catching it nimbly Morgana pointed both the swords at Gwen.

"Games up my little Queen. The bigger and better Queen won," Morgana sneered. "Dying is too good for you, Gwen. You will die but I need to do something to you first." Morgana murmured (what sounded to Gwen like an incoherent sentence) the words of a spell.

"Now Gwen. I need you to kill Arthur Pendragon," Morgana whispered gleefully.

"Yes, my lady," Gwen replied.

"Act as you normally do but you must kill him. You must not tell anyone that you are going to kill him and you must not make it obvious that you are about to kill him," Morgana ordered softly.

"My only desire is to make sure that your every wish is fulfilled, my lady."

"Then make sure you fulfil my every wish." Morgana had never tried to enchant anyone to do her bidding before as she considered it too advanced (the exception of using the fomorrah to make Merlin do as she asked).

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" someone roared. Both Gwen and Morgana alike peered out of the window to see Arthur yelling at a poor guard in the courtyard.

"Gwen. You don't have anywhere for me to hide do you?"

"My chambers?" suggested Gwen.

"Perfect," agreed Morgana. "Take me to your chambers quickly then." Gwen darted out the room to the fortunately deserted corridors. When Gwen and Morgana finally reached Gwen's chambers, Morgana quickly threw herself under Gwen's bed before Arthur burst in.

"Arthur," Gwen gasped. "Thank the heavens." Arthur and approached each other at a frighteningly quick rate and began to kiss each other blissful or as Morgana thought, eat each other's faces. Peering out from under the bed, Morgana had grimaced as soon as they had started to kiss. It had taken some time for Morgana to convince herself that Arthur and Gwen were kissing was a good sign as that meant that Gwen wasn't acting suspiciously.

"I thought I would never see you again," Gwen wailed.

"Me too," Arthur replied. Morgana gave Arthur and Gwen an exasperated look from under the bed. Gwen and Arthur were so dramatic and over the top when it came to then talking to each other in private, thought Morgana.

"But do you know why my dogs and horses were running amok all over the town? Gwaine was having the time of his life running after them like a five year old," Arthur asked. Morgana once again gave an exasperated look from under the bed. Morgana could vividly imagine Gwaine with his huge smile running all over the town chasing after these animals while announcing his love to every girl he passed.

"What happened when you were away?" questioned Gwen.

"It will take a very long time to explain."

"Well I will listen to your story all day and night if need be." A mortified Morgana watched as Arthur delicately took Gwen's hand and guided Gwen towards her bed. Luckily they both just sat on the edge of Gwen's bed with their feet dangling off it. Morgana had to sit on her hands to resist the temptation of slapping Arthur's legs or taking off Arthur's boots and tickling his feet. They better be quick or I might starve or dehydrate to death, thought Morgana feeling very weak. Morgana hadn't had anything to eat since yesterday morning at King Gremian's castle. Because she had eaten next to nothing in the past week, Morgana was beginning to lose some weight, not to mention feeling like she was going to die.

One hour...

Two hours...

Three hours had past and Morgana felt like she was going to die. Why did Gwen need to know every item of clothes Arthur had worn or every movement his sword made when he was attacking someone?

"So a pack of magical wolves came and the dragon that tried to come and kill us all in Camelot came to try and help slay the giant. We all thought that the dragon and magical wolves were trying to kill us, so I," Arthur jumped of the bed to show Gwen the exact movement he had made to jump out of the wolves way. Morgana gave exasperated look number... Morgana had lost count of how many exasperated looks she had made. At least a hundred and that wasn't exaggeration either.

Four hours...

Five hours and Morgana had to stop her stomach growling with rage.

"So we found that Gwaine and the rest of the knights but they weren't alone in prison." Morgana lifted her head up intrigued about what Arthur would say about her. "Morgana was locked up with them. I don't know how they managed to lock her up. Gwaine was being crazy as usual and really getting on everybody's nerves. We had to leave Morgana behind because she was too securely locked up. I'm sorry but all of us would be dead if we hadn't." Morgana felt enraged at Arthur. He had not felt any remorse at leaving her behind. What Morgana felt wasn't true it had almost broke Arthur's heart to leave his violent but dear half-sister at the mercy of a ruthless King who was blood thirsty.

Six hours...

Seven hours...

Eight hours and Arthur said, "I am going to make Mordred a knight of Camelot but we shall not tell anyone that he possesses magic." Morgana almost felt like yelling. Mordred like Emrys had betrayed all their kin and wanted to help Arthur.

Suddenly a knock was heard at Gwen's door.

"Enter," Gwen called. Merlin entered and asked Arthur, "Do you need anything, sire? I was worried about you as it has been nearly two hours since you vanished from sight." Morgana sighed so it hadn't been eight hours like she had guessed. In fact it hadn't even been two hours.

"No all is well," replied Arthur. Merlin then quickly departed the room.

"Why don't you get something to drink," suggested Gwen suggested. Arthur turned around and Gwen quickly opened her drawer grabbing a dagger. Gwen drew the dagger quietly from its sheath and lunged at Arthur's heart...

**So Mordred is going to become a knight. You are going to have to wait to find out what his revenge is. Morgana is up to no good… What a surprise. I am looking forward to introducing a new character. She will be introduced in around 5 chapters but I will give you a hint she is going to conspire with Morgana. Thanks for reading & please review.**


	11. Gwen's Bloodthirsty Secret

**Thanks for reviewing. Gwen goes very dark in this chapter and is soon trying to kill everyone who gets in her way of killing Arthur.**

Unfortunately for Morgana, Gwen lost her balance and stabbed Arthur's shoulder. Arthur's screams reverberated out of Gwen's chambers and through the corridors of the castle. Not wanting to attract too much attention, Gwen took the nearest chair and smashed it off of Arthur's head, knocking him unconscious. Before Gwen could pull the dagger out of Arthur's shoulder and stab his heart, a dark haired man burst through the door.

"What's happening?" asked the young man stressfully. Morgana's sneer wiped off her exasperated look number two thousand and...

Gwen heard a familiar voice speaking inside her head. You must blame this incident on the man who just entered the room. Say the man did what you did to Arthur and also say that you tried to cease the man attacking Arthur. It might be good to start screaming at the man.

"YOU'VE KILLED MY HUSBAND YOU EVIL INSO-"

"What have you done to him Gwen?" questioned the man. Gwen paused shrieking for a moment and eyed the man up curiously. No one called her Gwen nowadays. Then she realised who he was. Last time she had seen him he had only been a mere child but now he was going through manhood. It was Mordred. No one could forget those memorising cerulean eyes.

"MORDRED HAS KILLED THE KING!" yelled Gwen. Morgana sighed, impatiently waiting for Gwen's chambers to be deserted. She really needed to have something for supper before tomorrow and she was getting really stiff and unfortable. Luckily for Morgana she would have time to have a late breakfast, lunch and supper before tomorrow.

"HELP! SAVE US! THERE IS A RECKLESS MURDERER ON THE LOOSE!" Gwen continued to yell. Morgana yelped under Gwen's bed, vigorously wiggling her. She had defiantly got pins and needles at the worst possible time.

"What was that?," Mordred whispered softly drawing his sword from how sheath and approaching Gwen's bed cautiously.

"HELP! WE ARE BEING ATTACKED. THE KING IS AB-" Suddenly Gwaine came frolicking into Gwen's chambers with his eyes closed looking like he was in a dream.

"Do not fear,

Sir Gwaine is here,

I shall tame that beast

But first give me a feast," Gwaine sang. Mordred stared at Gwaine bewildered, Morgana was putting on her best exasperated facial emotion yet and Gwen was crying hysterically while wailing Gwaine's name. Finally Gwaine came back into reality and opened his chestnut eyes. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE?" Gwaine bellowed his flickering between Gwen and Mordred before resting on Arthur's lifeless form. Morgana had jumped when Gwaine had yelled and bashed her head against Gwen's bed. Drawing her dagger hastily, had been an instinctual reaction, for Morgana had felt frightened.

Merlin, Leon and Percival came bounding into Gwen's chambers as they had been discussing the topics of King Gremian, Morgana, the giant, Morgana, the dragon, Morgana, the magical wolves and Morgana, downstairs when they had heard shouts.

"H-he k-k-killed..." Gwen stuttered. "I-I-I c-can't fell a p-p-pulse." Lying was easy for Gwen now that she was possessed by Morgana. Of course Gwen could feel Arthur's pulse but she said she couldn't just incase they believed her and departed the room, leaving Arthur to perish. Merlin leapt forward towards Arthur and bent down to feel Arthur's pulse beating very slowly.

"It's alright I can feel his pulse. Who did this?" Merlin whispered in Gwen's ear.

"Mordred," Gwen howled. As soon as these words were out of Gwen, the three knights pointed their swords at Mordred.

"She lies," argued Mordred. "I found her alone in this room with Arthur seriously injured."

"Percival, I need help here," requested Merlin. "Come and help me lift Arthur to Gaius's chambers." Percival flexed his muscles and lifted Arthur gently away to Gaius's chambers. Before Merlin could leave the room, he halted and glared at Mordred.

_Why did you do this? Arthur has caused you no harm._

_Why do you expect it was me Emrys? What have I done?_

_You were friends with Morgana and I would believe my friend over you._

_Then you would be living a lie like you already are._

"Lock Mordred in prison," ordered Gwen hurrying after Percival and pulling Merlin along. Gwaine and Sir Leon didn't even have to haul Mordred to prison, Mordred just silently marched along, with the threat of the swords touching his back.

As soon as they had all departed the room, Morgana hobbled out of Gwen's bed, pacing around the room a few times, before slouching in a seat and making a start on the fruit in Gwen's fruit bowl. Morgana hadn't had the luxury of anything tasty to eat since she had been Queen. The Isle of the Blessed had had a very limited variety of edible foods and the only time she had strayed off the Isle was to collect items from her hovel and to steal a cow and a couple of chickens. It had been pretty hard going to take the cow to the Isle of the Blessed by boat even though the boat was magically enhanced. So Morgana had virtually lived off of milk, eggs, fish, revolting plants, a few disgusting mushroom species that she knew were safe to eat and magical fruit which had an unusual taste which Morgana disliked. Morgana had tried to make cheese but had just ended up with disgusting, lumpy, milk. When King Gremian had ordered for Morgana to get given food, all she had got was stale bread and completely bruised fruit.

* * *

"What's happened?" Gaius asked worriedly as Percival placed an unconscious Arthur on Gaius's table.

"Mordred has seriously maimed Arthur," replied Merlin.

"I'll need space," Gaius warned to Gwen and Percival.

Percival left immediately but Gwen didn't even flinch.

"I won't leave," Gwen murmured.

"Arthur will be fine but you look shattered. Drink this and try and get some rest." Gaius handed Gwen a small bottle filled with some sort of liquid. Gwen pretended to reluctantly leave Gaius's chambers. She had no intention of going to her chambers to rest so she wondered down to the kitchens to get some food for Morgana.

"He'll be fine," announced Gaius. "It is quite strange that he had a bad head injury, but maybe Mordred wanted to knock Arthur unconscious to make him easier to kill."

"I will go and tell Gwen the bad news." Gaius chuckled at Merlin's remark.

Merlin hummed happily pondering to Gwen's chambers though he doubted that Gwen would be in them. He drummed his hand on the door to Gwen's chambers but when there was no answer Merlin slipped into Gwen's chambers.

Morgana sighed silently as she had just had time to slip under Gwen's bed before Merlin entered Gwen's chambers. No doubt Merlin had sneaked in to investigate this incident as he always did.

A pool of Arthur's blood was on the floor and were Merlin's eyes just deceiving him or was the bowl of fruit emptier than it had been earlier? Quickly turning to leave, something engraved on the wall caught Merlin's eye. He traced his fingers over the words of: YOU ARE ALREADY INFAMOUS. That was very peculiar.

"Merlin," Gwen stuttered. "How is Arthur?" Gwen had silently entered the room and Merlin jumped around in fright.

"I've got bad news. Arthur is going to be alright," Merlin answered. "Er... Gwen. Why do you have two plates of food."

"I got... I got this one for you," Gwen invented lamely. "I thought you might be hungry after your journey home."

"I'm fine I have already eaten. But what is that writing on the wall."

"I was saying to Mordred that... That he would be infamous, if he... If he killed Arthur so he carved that on the wall with his sword. He told me that Arthur and I were infamous and that we ruled unfairly and that we were... We were idiots..." Gwen trailed off. Merlin stared at her suspiciously as it sounded unconvincing. "Can I see Arthur?"

"He is still unconscious but Gaius thinks that it would be best for you to get some sleep first," advised Merlin.

Bursting into the room, a girl with brown hair looked flushed. "I'm so sorry I am really late, my lady. My little sister h-has a d-d-deadly..." This poor girl was Gwen's maid Elvina.

"Shh..." soothed Gwen to her maid. "Kindly clean up this mess and then Merlin can take you to the court physician. It will all be alright Elvina."

"It's alright, my lady. Gaius is already tending to my little sister," Elvina said.

"Well you shall be relieved from your duties today and all the other days until your little sister is feeling better."

"If you would excuse me, my lady," Merlin teased putting on his best posh accent. Gwen courteously nodded her head. Merlin felt sorry for poor Elvina, when he had first met her Elvina had been a shy girl but now she had come out her shell. Him and Elvina had to spend ages standing next to each over at numerous illuminating meetings.

As Merlin sauntered back to his chambers he couldn't help feeling that there was something going on with Gwen. She had been acting strangely since they had returned to Camelot. Merlin shook off this feeling by firmly telling himself that Gwen had just seen her husband getting stabbed so she had the right to act strange.

Gwaine came dashing to Merlin and asked, "How's Arthur?"

"He'll recover."

"You thought that Mordred was going to betray him, though?"

"How did yo-"

"You weren't backing me up when I tried to say that all magic wasn't evil in order to make Mordred come back to Camelot with us," explained Gwaine.

"Let's just say I had my suspicions about him. When he was a child Morgana and him were very close. In fact it was Morgana who convinced Arthur to disobey his father and smuggle Mordred out of Camelot."

"Well we better break the news to Gaius. That I know your secret."

"Oh great... I am my walk to doom," chuckled Merlin.

"Gaius," Merlin said awkwardly. "I... We need to tell you something." Gaius motioned for Merlin to carry on. "Not in here in my chambers." Gaius looked very suspiciously at Merlin. Once the three were in Merlin's bedroom and Merlin had made sure the door was tightly shut, Merlin awkwardly looked at Gwaine to start speaking.

"I know Merlin's secret but don't worry I won't tell anyone," Gwaine started awkwardly. The next hour consisted of Gaius having a rant at Merlin for being so foolish and giving Gwaine an illuminating lecture about, why you don't tell Arthur that Merlin has magic. Gwaine made an exasperated look which even rivalled Morgana's. He was really going to go up to Arthur and tell him about Merlin's magical powers to get Merlin killed, Gwaine thought sarcastically:

"Well," Merlin sighed as Gaius went to check up on Arthur. "It could have went a lot worse."

"I don't think it is over yet," moaned Gwaine. Merlin groaned and collapsed on his bed lying flat out.

* * *

"Are you tired, my lady?" wondered Gwen staring at Morgana's bags under her eyes. It was only mid afternoon but Morgana and Gwen both felt exhausted.

"Yes, I think I shall sleep here," Morgana murmured, sleepily pointing to a curtained off area not unlike the one she had hid Mordred so many years ago. "Move all the pillows and the quilt from that bed over there." Morgana watched Gwen hauling the bedding over to the snug curtained off area. She smirked as she watched the Queen of Camelot slaving away at her every wish.

"That will be all Gwen," Morgana ordered as Gwen pushed the last pillow in place.

"Goodnight, my lady."

"Goodnight or should I say afternoon, my little Queen."

Morgana quickly made herself comfortable but Gwen wriggled about for hours trying to get comfortable on the bare mattress. Without any pillows or a quilt it was very uncomfortable but Gwen had slept in much worse places such as prison cells. At last both Morgana and Gwen fell into a deep sleep and were only disturbed in the middle of the night by lightning striking the roof.

Morgana emerged from behind the curtain in hope of pouring a drink for herself but a guard abruptly entered the room.

"Milady are y- MORGANA!" the guard yelled acknowledging Morgana's presence in the room.

"Hleap on baec," Morgana whispered dangerously. Morgana's eyes flickered gold causing the guard to be blasted against the wall. Morgana drew out her dagger to vanquish this guard from this world but Gwen got there before her and pierced his heart with her own dagger.

"What are we going to do with the the corpse?" asked Morgana.

"Throw it out the window," suggested Gwen. Morgana shook her head ferociously. She could vividly imagine a guard standing stationary on patrol, when a corpse came flying out of nowhere and bombarded him.

"No that would be too obvious. I know what to do." Morgana's eyes twinkled. "I shall make one of the houses in the lower town erupt into flames and then you can go to move the corpse into a room where people rarely visit. All the guards should be distracted by the fire. You shall come with me to the lower town and make sure that I get out alright betore you move the corpse. I can pretend to be Elvia your maid-"

"Elvina," Gwen interupted.

"Alright, Elvina or whatever her name is and you will be escorting Elvina, me, out of Camelot because I need to get a rare herb which will save my little sister's life."

"I shall just change into something less noticeable and then we can leave," Gwen decided.

"That is more practical and it is more pleasing to the eye," admired Morgana. Gwen was dressed in a plain black dress with a matching plain black cloak. "It is very dull but no item of clothing can compare to my black dress." Gwen hastily wrapped the corpse in a blanket before shoving it under her bed and following Morgana, who had her hood up in disguise, out of the room.

Gwen and Morgana hurried to the stables where Morgana tacked up a white, high spirited colt to ride.

Passing a house in the lower town Morgana muttered, "Forbaernan," making the house erupted into flames.

Leading the colt towards the gates of Camelot, a guard shouted, "Halt. Reveal yourselves."

"Do not fear guard of Camelot it is I, Queen Guinevere of Camelot and my maid Elvina. Elvina needs to urgently ride out in search of a rare herb to save her little sister's life," Gwen formally stated.

"Sorry to bother you, milady."

"No harm done." Gwen curtly bowed her head as the embarrassed guard strode away. Once the guard was out of sight Morgana mounted the colt. Gathering the reins into her hands, her horse reared but Morgana stayed on the saddle with ease clutching the pommel of the saddle with one hand and the reins with the other.

"Goodbye, my lady."

"Goodbye, my little Queen." Morgana nudged her heels into the inexperienced horse's side making the colt take off at a fully fledged gallop.

Lurking in the shadows Gwen passed the house that Morgana had set on fire. Alarmingly huge flames hid the house and the house was surrounded by several guards. Creeping back to her chambers, Gwen peered out of a window to discover that the flame, Morgana had conjured, was spreading like wildfire and the vast area covering five houses were on fire. Gwen waited in her chambers for a while, until she peeked out the door checking that the corridors were deserted before dragging the deceased guard into Morgana's old chambers. Kicking the guard under the bed, Gwen drew the dagger out of his heart and wiped the blade clean on the corpse's trousers. Morgana's chambers had barely been touched since she had left Camelot. They had not even removed Morgana's sumptuous dresses which still lined the wardrobe or her ornate jewellery which still remained in her jewellery boxes. The thought of even emptying her chambers had hurt too much for Arthur to even consider. Maybe he hoped that they would have a use again or maybe it hurt him too much to remember what Morgana had formally been. Only the servants ever entered them to give them a quick dust or to make sure that they didn't fall into wrack and ruin. Gwen quickly left Morgana's old chambers leaving a trail blood that had dripped from her cloak behind her.

"Gwen?" Gwen bolted round in horror just outside Morgana's chambers but was relieved to see that it was just Merlin.

"Merlin, you scared the life out of me. I was just going for a walk."

"I have to say I am not too keen on your new look. Why are you wearing black?" Merlin teased.

"I am... I am in mourning," Gwen replied lamely.

"For who?"

"Arthur."

"Why are you mourning for Arthur he is perfectly alright," Merlin laughed. "I was actually just looking for you as the clotpole requests your attention. I know it is the middle of the night but I thought you might still be awake. Arthur is too attention seeking for my liking and I can't believe that you married him."

"I think I shall just go and see Arthur," Gwen told Merlin, planning on making a detour to the armoury first, to decide what weapon to use to kill him. As soon as Gwen's footsteps faded Merlin entered Morgana's old chambers to investigate why Gwen's hands were crusted with dried blood. Merlin spotted the trail of blood splattered along the floor to the bed. Bending down, Merlin uncovered the guard's corpse. There was no denying it now, Merlin thought, Gwen was up to something. She had even gone to the extent of killing a guard to achieve what she wanted. Merlin didn't know what gave him the energy to do it but he was suddenly sprinting full fledged to the dungeon where Mordred was held captive.

_Mordred_, Merlin telepathically spoke, _I need your help._

_Need my help Emrys? I shan't give it to you. Why should I help you? You are going to leave me here to die for a crime I did not commit._

_Arthur may die otherwise. Do you know who tried to kill Arthur?_

_When I entered Gwen's chambers I heard a yelp but I don't think it was Gwen or Arthur or yelped._

_Did Gwen try to kill Arthur?_

_How did you know,_ Mordred spluttered telepathically.

_I think she may be enchanted as I have just witnessed her hide a dead guard. Thanks Mordred._

* * *

"Leave us," Arthur told Gaius. Gaius left the royal couple to themselves. Waiting patiently to make sure that Gaius was far enough away so he didn't hear Arthur's screams when she killed Arthur, Gwen embraced Arthur. In her arms, wrapped inside the bundle of her cloak, was the crossbow that Gwen had decided she was going to kill Arthur with.

"You have irked me too long Arthur Pendragon," Gwen announced. Arthur pulled a stupid face as if he was questioning what he had done this time.

"Is nearly dying irking you?" Arthur dubiously wondered.

"No but slaying innocent people is."

"If this is about Morgana then I want you to know that I would have slayed several more innocent people if I had attempting to save her."

"Say your last words Arthur Pendragon because I am going to kill you," Gwen rejoiced. Taking the crossbow out of her cloak, Gwen placed an arrow in place. Arthur was in so much shock that he could barely move so he tried to pinch himself hoping that he would wake up from this nightmare. She poised the bow a few metres away from Arthur's heart and fired but luckily the arrow fell to the ground in mid air. Neither Gwen nor Arthur had noticed Merlin entering the room with his eyes twinkling gold. With the element of surprise at his command, Merlin snuck up behind Gwen and slashed the crossbow in half.

"HELP!" Merlin screeched. "SOMEONE IS GOING TO KILL THE KING!" Guards came streaming into Gaius's chambers searching warily for the culprit.

"Who is trying to kill the king?" one of the guards interrogated stressfully.

"The Queen," Merlin murmured.

"DON'T YOU LIE TO ME BOY!" the guard raged. The guard hesitated. Was it just him or were his eyes deceiving him? Was Arthur weakly pointing at the Queen?

"Now you know where my true loyalties lie, I don't think I will be staying here," Gwen stated. She drew out the dagger, which she had slaughtered the other guard with and took off the gloves that she had used to conceal her blood crusted hands. Gwen put up a valiant struggle against several guards and managed to slay two of them with her dagger. Finally feisty Gwen was disarmed and held at the mercy of the guards.

"I am arresting you, Guinevere Pendragon, for committing high treason," Arthur boomed.

**Thanks for reading. Gwen has some very bad excuses in this chapter but she hasn't had much practise at making up stories so that is why. Please review.**


	12. From Young to Old

**Thanks for the reviews guys. It's been a while since I last updated but I will try and update more often. I also resequenced the story a bit to make it flow better. Enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

Morgana could not sleep since she had ridden back to her old hovel. She had tethered the colt outside and entered her hovel to find out that nothing had been moved in three years. Taking off her muddy leather boots she had crawled into her bed. Morgana had been unable to sleep and had tossed and turned until she was chilled to the bone. Venturing to the hearth, Morgana chucked some rotting wood which was lying on the floor into the hearth before setting it alight with magic. Clutching the necklace around her neck she thought of the one that she desired to speak to most. The round pendant of the necklace was grey with a picture of a white dragon on it. She had gained this necklace three years ago as she had found it in concealed in the letter from Mordred. It was wrapped in a piece of parchment which said:

_This necklace and my necklace are linked to our brains. It is an unique art that was taught to me by my father. If you are in need think of me and however far away we are from each other we can communicate telepathically._

_Mordred can you hear me?_ Morgana muttered telepathically.

_Morgana?_ Mordred replied.

_I-I'm s-s-sorry. It my fault Gwen made you get out in prison. Do you need rescuing?_

_It's alright. I unlike anybody else immediately figured out that you had control over Gwen. Morgana's tense, stiff body relaxed at the sound of this._

_Has Gwen's little secret been found out yet?_ Morgana sweetly asked.

_I saw guards dragging her past my prison cell so I think it has._

_Why are you in league with Arthur?_

_Because he saved my life._

_I saved your life too_

_I am not exactly in league with him. I am there to try and make him view magic differently. If this fails then I will plot against him. Speak to you later._

_Goodbye Mordred._

Morgana sighed deeply. It looked like she was going to have to scheme against Arthur by herself. She had tried to ally herself with the Saxons but that had drastically failed and now Mordred was trying to change Arthur's opinion about magic so that wasn't an option.

Suddenly Morgana bolted up and began to search through a book which she had not taken to the Isle of the Blessed.

"Miht dagan, beþecce me. Adeadaþ þisne gast min freondum ond min feondum," Morgana chanted with her eyes shut. When Morgana opened her eyes and looked down she saw her hands were withered and chapped. Changing her dress into a plain black with a matching cloak, she set off outside. With a lot of difficulty she mounted the white colt and galloped off into the darkness.

* * *

"GWAINE! IF YOU DON'T COME NOW THEN THE TAVERN IS GOING TO BURN DOWN!" Percival boomed shaking Gwaine continously until Gwaine bolted.

"WHAT!" yelped Gwaine. "THE WORLD IS GOING TO END!"

"Not the world just the tavern," Percival corrected pointing out the window to the deadly flames which were just missing the tavern. "There are plenty of damsels in distress that require saving." Percival set off jogging to the fire.

"You're wrong," called Gwaine sprinting along beside Percival. "No tavern equals the world's end." Percival chuckled but as soon as they left the castle, both of them felt the tension in the air and turned serious (well as serious as Gwaine and Percival could be).

"I know," Gwaine called taking off his jacket and wrapping it round his face. "Competition to see who can rescue the most people from the building." Percival copied Gwaine by ripping off his shirt and wrapping it around his face. Both, Gwaine and Percival shot into the building but a guard grabbed Gwaine's shirt and threw him away from the burning buildings.

"WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT!" yelled the guard.

"I am a knight in shining armour and it is my duty to rescue pretty ladies," Gwaine growled. "I also believe that knights have a higher ranking than guards so bye-bye." Suddenly Percival burst out of the building clutching two young children.

"Two," Percival coughed leaping back into the building.

"Not fair," yelled Gwaine leaping into the building next to it. As Gwaine and Percival rescued more and more people, the fire began to extinguish. Men, women and children alike all worked in harmony to calm the raging fire.

"Fifteen," Percival choked. "I can't see anybody else."

"Seventeen," Gwaine hoarsely coughed bundling a little baby in ash covered blankets. Gwaine and Percival wheezed and puffed struggling to breathe from the smoke they had inhaled. Their faces were ashen and pallid.

"GWAINE! PERCIVAL!" Elyan screamed. "YOU NEED TO STOP! IT CAN'T BE GOOD FOR YOU! I'll GO AND GET GAIUS!" For once Gwaine and Percival actually obeyed and collapsed onto the ground unable to move there stiff muscles.

* * *

Since the guards had dragged Gwen to the dungeons, Merlin and Arthur had remained stationery and silent.

"How c-c-could she," Arthur fumed. Arthur was at loss of what to say but he felt one emotion: betrayal.

"Gwen would never do this to you in a million years," Merlin quietly said.

"SHE JUST DID!" Arthur raged. It really hurt for Arthur to admit how many family members sought him dead. Morgana, Agravaine and now Gwen.

"Think rationally Arthur. Gwen could never do this to you," Merlin pleaded.

"What are you implying," Arthur grunted immediately calming down.

"I think Gwen has been enchanted," Merlin whispered. Relief flooded through Arthur as he thought there might be some truth in what Merlin said.

"Your right. Gwen would never try to kill me. Who would try to enchant her?"

"I don't know. We can't rule Morgana off our list as she could have miraculously escaped King Gremian." Suddenly Gaius burst into the room surprised to see that Merlin was with Arthur instead of Gwen.

"Did I not get here in time to save there lives," Gaius panicked bending down to examine the guard's corpses. "I think they have been stabbed in the heart." Gaius gave Merlin and Arthur a bewildered look.

"It was Gwen," murmured Merlin bending down beside Gaius and gently closing the corpses eyes.

"We have reason to believe that she has been enchanted," agreed Arthur.

"Find out how to break the enchantment while I'll distract Arthur," Gaius whispered to Merlin. Merlin hastily slipped into his chambers while Arthur stared blankly out of the window.

Turning around Arthur asked, "Where has Merlin gone?"

"To the tavern. I tried to stop him but he persistently harassed me," Gaius said with an annoyed tone of voice.

Merlin exasperatedly sighed at Gaius's remark from his chambers. He was really going to go to the tavern at four in the morning considering he had not been to a tavern in years.

"Again? But we need to start hunting for this magical user," Arthur insisted.

"You are still unwell, sire. Best wait until tomorrow. Here drink this," Gaius authorised passing Arthur a bottle. As soon as the liquid made its way into Arthur's stomach, he went into a trance and lay back snoring.

Merlin whom had been flicking through the crisp pages of his magic book had finally found what he was looking for and crept back into Gaius's chambers.

"I'm going to give Gwen a visit," whispered Merlin.

"You be careful," warned Gaius.

Merlin looked over towards a sleeping Arthur and said, "Does he honestly think that I am going to go to the tavern at four in the morning. He hasn't suspected me of going to the tavern since Gwen's coronation feast."

"Talking about taverns Gwaine will kill you if you let the tavern burn to ashes," Elyan truthfully said bursting into Gaius's chambers. "There is a fire beside the tavern and many people require medication who have been rescued."

Merlin quickly walked down to Gwen's prison cell not even stopping to talk to Mordred.

"I'm King Arthur's manservant," Merlin informed the guard guarding Gwen's prison cell. "He has ordered me to talk to Gwen in private." The guard fumbled with the keys before locking Merlin in the cell with Gwen.

Before he left the dungeons, the guard ordered, "Shout for me when you need out."

"What are you doing here," growled Gwen lifting her hands up to Merlin's throat trying to suffocate him. "You saved Arthur's life. Therefore you must die." Merlin grasped Gwen's wrists moving them away from his throat.

"Look Arthur," Merlin called pointing. Gwen turned away giving Merlin time for Merlin's eyes to flicker gold and make Gwen fall asleep.

"Aheorde Gwen fram séo wiccung héo sy gespannon oþ," Merlin rumbled his eyes flashing gold. Deeply sighing, Merlin sat down waiting for Gwen to wake up. It was going to be a long wait.

"Merlin," Gwen gasped.

"Are you all right," Merlin stressfully asked embracing Gwen.

"No," Gwen wailed hysterically. "I have killed three innocent people not to mention trying to kill my own husband and best friend."

"It wasn't your fault. It was whoever who has enchanted you's fault," reassured Merlin.

"Arthur was wrong. Morgana is not dying. She is alive as it was her that enchanted me," Gwen whispered shakily.

"I should go and tell that dollophead that put you in prison to release you."

"Dollophead?"

"Arthur's nickname when he does something annoying," Merlin quickly answered calling for the guard to let him out of the prison cell. Merlin fled away before the guard could ask him why he had been talking to Gwen for five hours.

Bursting into Gaius's chambers, Merlin abruptly shook Arthur awake.

"Merlin! What the hell do you think you are doing?" yelled Arthur.

"The enchantment is broken. Gwen is really upset."

"Are you sure? Gwen could just be putting on an act."

"I'm positively sure as Gwen just told me that it was Morgana who enchanted her," Merlin assured.

"Mordred will be able to tell if she is still enchanted won't he."

"I don't know," Merlin replied truthfully helping Arthur stand up. Arthur's shoulder was still quite tender from the knife attack but Merlin had helped speed up the healing of the wound much to Gaius's disapproval.

When Arthur and Merlin entered the dungeons, Mordred looked at them eagerly, hoping that they brought the news of his release.

"Mordred I must offer you, my most sincere apology," Arthur sympathised.

"It's alright. I'm fine," Mordred assured Arthur.

"We think that the enchantment that was controlling Gwen is broken. Can you check that it is?"

"Of course," replied Mordred.

_So you think you have broken the enchantment, Emrys. We'll soon see if that is true,_ Mordred softly whispered telepathically gazing at Merlin.

_I have broke the enchantment,_ Merlin replied calmly.

"If you two want to talk you can. You seem to spend a lot of time staring at each other," Arthur laughed.

"Arthur," Gwen said, bewildered.

"Unlock the cell and then leave us alone," Arthur ordered. The guard unlocked the cell

and then departed the room with haste. "Mordred is just going to check that the enchantment is broken."

"Sit down and open your mind," Mordred told Gwen.

"What are you doing?" panicked Gwen.

"I am going to try and look into your mind to see whether Morgana is possessing you," Mordred soothed. Placing his hands on her head, Mordred's eyes flashed gold.

"The enchantment is broken," Mordred stated. Arthur just managed to stop himself from asking Gwen what had happened as he wanted to give Gwen time to recover before he started to plea for information about Morgana.

"Can you mind read?" wondered Gwen out loud.

"You would be naive to think of it as mind reading. The mind is a many layered thing, it is not like a book to be opened at leisure. It is called the art of telepathy so I am a telepath," Mordred explained.

"So just now if you wanted you could find out my thoughts," Arthur worriedly asked.

"No, I can't. My father could sometimes extract information that, a person was not willing to give. I am not that advanced but I can extract information if you open your mind. Open your mind Merlin," requested Mordred.

_What are you going to do Mordred?_ Merlin questioned telepathically.

_Just look into your mind. You can block anything you don't want me to see,_ Mordred explained. Mordred shut his eyes looking through Merlin's mind.

"Ow!" Mordred injected intensely. "Merlin resisted me. I am not ready, yet, to break through resistance unless it is really weak and feeble."

_Nice try, Emrys, but you were too late._

_Too late? What did you see?_

_Your broken heart. You poisoned her and still regret it but you felt that there was no other way. Over the past year you have had a few chances to kill but you did not. You had to torture yourself into trying to kill her but she was in the way of your destiny so you felt you had no other choice and tried to kill her._

_She was my friend and even if someone wh-_

_Was she more than that Emrys?_

"NOT EVER WAS SHE MORE THAN THAT!" Merlin screamed not realising that it wasn't telepathic.

"Merlin are you alright?" Gwen stressfully requested.

"Not ever was who more than that?" vigorously pressed Arthur.

"What?" Merlin pondered realising that he hadn't said the last sentence telepathically. "Uh... I am tired and haven't slept for days and... and I was day dreaming."

"Who, was it?" Arthur teased.

"Er... Just a girl from Ealdor," Merlin mumbled.

"We should probably get some sleep," suggested Arthur. "I'll have to make a public announcement later as rumours are probably spreading about you already Gwen." Merlin gave Arthur a nod to indicate that he was about to leave and rushed up to speak to Gaius. He then collapsed from exhaustion and had a well deserved rest.

* * *

A week had passed since Merlin had broken the enchantment that Morgana had placed upon Gwen. Gwaine and Percival had recovered well from the smoke but still had a irrated throat. Mordred was undergoing the challenges he had to face to become a knight. Though Mordred's sword fighting was nothing compared to the likes of the Gwaine, Leon, Percival or Arthur, Mordred passed his tests. Although it can be said that Arthur went purposely easy on him as he knew what Mordred was capable of.

"Sire," Merlin gasped.

"What is it now Merlin? But before you ask you are not going to get the day off to spend at the tavern with Gwaine. I had to keep an eye on Gwaine during the training session this morning because he was desperate to go to the tavern," Arthur joked.

"Princess Mithian is waiting for you in the courtyard she is desperate to speak to you," Merlin rushed.

* * *

"There, there Sunnivia don't cry," soothed Gwen embracing Sunnivia. "If you like him and he likes you then in time you will find a way to be together. You are only sixteen and you have your whole life ahead to get together. Don't waste precious years. Be optimistic. It took Arthur and I a few years to even be open to everybody about our feelings."

"I-I k-know t-t-that," Sunnivia sobbed wiping away the tears.

"What is happening," Gwen yelled opening the window. Four horses were being mounted by Merlin, Arthur, Princess Mithian and an old woman who Gwen recognised. Smashing the mirror and picking up the largest fragment, Gwen reflected the mirror off of the old woman. Looking at the reflection in the mirror she saw Morgana's face in the mirror instead of the old woman's. Gwen sighed deeply remembering how she had caught Morgause out with the mirror so many years. Unfortunately for Gwen the four horses had started to gallop into the distance.

"ARTHUR!" Gwen yelled. "IT IS MORGANA!" Arthur did not hear her shouts so he did not cease his horse from galloping.

"He is going to his doom," screeched Gwen sprinting out the room and leaving Sunnivia mortified.

"I just don't get it," Sunnivia moaned to herself. "One minute she is calm and the next minute she is acting like the worlds going to end and yelling Morgana's name though she is nowhere to be seen and smashing mirrors. I should probably tell Gaius about this. Having a mental illness or having illusions may be a side effect to Morgana's enchantment."

"They say the first sign of madness is talking to yourself," chortled Gwaine walking into Sunnivia's chambers. "Is everything alright? Gwen came screaming out of here a couple of seconds ago.

"Gwaine!" gasped Sunnivia. "Gwen thinks Morgana is going to kill Arthur." Gwaine bolted out the room before Sunnivia even had the chane to say, I think she mistook Morgana for a girl.

"What is wrong with some people," Sunnivia gasped. The words of 'He is going to his doom,' echoed in her head until Sunnivia fled out of the room after Gwen and Gwaine.

* * *

**I have had Old Morgana in my story summary for ages so I thought it was about time to put it in the story. In the trailer Morgana is wearing a necklace in every scene she appears in so I decided to put that in too. Really looking forward to writing the next part of the story. Please review because it makes me motivated. Constructive criticism is welcome.**


	13. This is the End

**Thanks for reviewing. Don't worry the chapter name isn't referring to it being the end of the story. Just the end of something different or maybe not.**

"Mordred" gasped Gwen shakily. "Where's Arthur gone?"

"On a rescue mission to save King Stewart, I believe. Their kingdom was taken over by Saxons so Arthur agreed to help save the princess's father," Mordred explained looking remotely calm. "He ordered me to remain behind to make sure you would be alright."

"Are you sure? He did not tell me about it," Gwen pressed.

"The situation is a delicate matter and Arthur wanted to leave as soon as possible. He looked in on your chambers but you weren't there. I'm sorry but that is all I know. They left with such haste," Mordred bluntly said turning around to see Gwaine thundering down the corridor.

"Where's Morgana?" panted Gwaine his lungs not fully recovered from the smoke he had inhaled.

"She is the old lady that rode out with Arthur?" Gwen worriedly announced. Mordred frowned deeply, trying to work out the resemblance Morgana and the woman had.

"How did you work that, detective Pendragon?" asked Gwaine.

"I reflected this mirror off of the old lady where the old lady's face should have been in the reflection was Morgana's face."

"True, true. Morgana has probably used an ageing spell," Mordred guessed. "Or a brewed a potion to make her look like someone else. Someone will need to go after her to tell Arthur."

"I'll go and gather the knights and leave instantly to tell Arthur," Gwaine decided running down the corridor to go and find the knights.

Merlin's stormy blue eyes pierced into the old lady's emerald eyes. He knew those eyes though he had not seen them in years but he couldn't think where. Princess Mithian had explained that the old woman had smuggled her out the kingdom when the Saxons had attacked. Though the only things Merlin had heard about the old woman were good things, he still suspected her. When the old woman and Merlin's eyes met he felt that he detected a look of loathing though it was gone as soon as it came so Merlin began to wonder if it was just his imagination.

"So what's the plan," Merlin asked as they galloped through the trees.

"I am going to impersonate Prince Alexander and Mary is going to show me the way to rescue King Stuart ," Arthur whispered. Merlin took it that Mary was the old lady that he thought he recognised.

"And what do I do?" Merlin wondered.

"You look after Princess Mithian in the forest. Sorry I got that the wrong way round Princess Mithian will look after you," Arthur joked.

"I think that is a bad idea. I think I should come with you Merlin suggested.

"No. They'll recognise you but they'll hopefully just think I'm Alexander because I got Mordred to change my eye colour." Arthur's eyes were now green and brown and he was speaking in a lower voice imitating Prince Alexander.

Night had truly fallen by the time Arthur and Merlin could see a pale grey castle in the distance. It wasn't as grand nor as big as the Castle of Camelot but it looked like a pleasurable place to live in. Unlike Camelot though this castle was on slightly higher ground so the view had to be breathtaking.

"We are going to chance our luck and try and go into the castle just now," Arthur whispered.

"Good luck Arthur Pendragon. I shall remember your kindness until the day I day and no less shall I remember yours Mary," Princess Mithian formally said.

"I will try my best as long as you promise to look after Merlin for me," Arthur teased. Merlin threw Arthur a look while old Morgana waited impatiently for them to leave.

"I'm sure poor Merlin is a lot more capable of looking after himself than you realise," Mithian assured Arthur.

"Well lets hope so or you'll killed in two seconds by the Saxons," Arthur seriously said. "Come on Mary. Let's give the Saxons the shock of their lives." Merlin and Mithian watched as Arthur's and Mary's silhouettes got lost in the darkness of the forest. It took him a couple of minutes to come up with the idea of turning old and helping Arthur on his rescue mission to rescue Mithian's father. Then suddenly reality came crashing through Merlin. That lady may have been old and innocent but Merlin was sure that she was a lot less sweet then she was putting on. For Merlin it was his eyes that Arthur nearly caught him out for when he had turned old. It was Morgana's eyes that Merlin recognised and it had taken a while but Merlin suddenly realised that 'Mary' was Morgana.

"Oh great," Merlin gasped. Mithian turned around peering at Merlin with a concerned look.

"What's wrong? Is there anything wrong?" Mithian stressfully asked.

"Nothing serious except I am going to have to leave you on your own for a second because I need to empty my bladder," Merlin fumed.

"Make sure you don't go after Arthur," Mithian firmly said.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Merlin sarcastically stated, but fortunately Mithian didn't detect the hint of sarcasm in his voice. Merlin decided to stride to the edge of the forest before changing into his older self as it would be quicker.

"Miht dagan, beþecce me. Adeadaþ þisne gast min freondum ond min feondum," Merlin murmured. From his saddle bag, Merlin extracted a blood red cloak and the vial which contained the potion for him to transform back to his normal age. Merlin always kept them tucked away in his bag just incase he needed to use magic at any point.

As Merlin approached the gates he muttered, "Hleap apon baec." The guard was thrown against the wall as Merlin shuffled past entering the citadel.

"Through here," whispered old Morgana smiling.

"I, Prince Alexander, order you to open up the cell because I wish to torture King Stewart until he reveals where his daughter is," Arthur said.

"Yes, sire," the guard obediently replied. The guard unlocked the cell and let Arthur and old Morgana in. Unfortunately they didn't notice the guard lock the cell again and run away to tell King Gremian that he had found Arthur Pendragon.

"What do you want with me now," croaked King Stewart.

Arthur turned round making sure the room was deserted before mumbling, "Do not fear King Stewart. It is I, Arthur Pendragon and I have come to rescue you."

"Why?" questioned a bewildered King Stewart.

"Later. We need to leave before they start to suspect me." Arthur hauled King Stewart up and tried to push the cell door open but failed. "Mary can you get that."

"It's locked," old Morgana sighed. "You have failed to deceive the guard so I suppose now is as good as any time to reveal who I really am."

"What do yo-"

enchanted old Morgana. Suddenly gold vapour surrounded Morgana and her wrinkles began to disappear and her hair began to darken. Soon Morgana had transformed back into her youthful form. Before Arthur could reach for his sword it flew out his sheath and out of the prison cell.

"Hello dear brother," Morgana laughed enjoying the horrified look on Arthur's face. "Did you really believe that stupid, old Mary was on your side. Were you too stupid to recognise me? Just if you are not smart enough to work it out I am Mary. I used an ageing spell to make myself look older." Morgana gently rotated her shoulders to get rid of the stiffness in them.

"ARTHUR PENDRAGON!" roared King Gremian striding in. Morgana's eyes flickered gold locking the door behind King Gremian.

"Again," moaned Morgana. "Just leave me for five minutes to kill Arthur and then we can arrange your death." An infuriated King Gremian threw his sword at Morgana but she stopped it in mid air and levitated it so it was pointing at King Gremian's heart. "You need to learn to control your anger, Gremian. Especially when you have a High Priestess of the Old Religion standing next to you," Morgana said in her soft but dangerous voice. "How painfully shall I kill you, Arthur Pendragon? You have persistently persecuted my kind for years; you have forced me to live on an isolated island for three years now with just a cow and a chicken for company and you left me to die with that coward but I luckily managed to escape." Suddenly the dungeon door burst open and in stumbled an old man. The sword which had been pointing directly at King Gremian's heart had dropped to the ground lacerating King Gremian's stomach. He stayed crouched in the corner trying to avoid Morgana's gaze.

"Emrys," stuttered Morgana.

"Do not worry," croaked old Merlin. "I am just you're imagination. Pass over Arthur and King Stewart and we'll just leave."

"I am in a room with the three men I hate the most and a stupid old King. Prepare to die," hissed Morgana gleefully. Merlin's eyes flickered gold and he opened the cell door.

"Not without a fight," Merlin hissed. Morgana was first to try and attack Merlin. She levitated King Gremian's sword and it shot right at Merlin but it stopped in midair engaging with Arthur's sword. King Stuart gazed in amazement as the two swords floating in mid air started clanging against each other. It was basically a sword duel in mid air without anyone holding onto the swords. Soon Morgana became tired of the sword play and the sword she was levitating dropped to the ground. Dodging the sword that Merlin sent hurling at her she lost her footing but hastily stood back up.

"Hleap upon baec," Morgana shouted blasting Merlin back. "Forbaernan." Huge flames burst out of Merlin's cloak which Merlin easily extinguished with a simple water charm. Arthur's sword quickly shot up at Morgana but Morgana hastily stopped it with a floating chair.

"This is just too easy," Morgana laughed coldly, sounding more confident than she felt. The chair that Morgana had been levitating darted straight at Merlin. Merlin being old and weak tried to dodge it but it crashed into him. After all his reactions when he was old were not quite as good as his reactions when he was young. With all of this calamity no one had noticed King Gremian sneak out of the room. Merlin tried to stand up but Morgana had the chair pin him down to the ground.

"Goodnight Emrys." hissed Morgana brandishing a sword and pointing It directly at Merlin's heart. Unfortunately for Morgana, Arthur came up right behind her and stabbed Morgana with a tranquilliser arrow.

"I'm so sorry Morgana," Arthur murmured catching Morgana as she collapsed from the sedative. He sat down cradling Morgana's unconscious body. "This is the end." Merlin couldn't believe it but he saw a couple of tears trickling down Arthur's cheek. Arthur knew that he would have to take Morgana back to Camelot to stop her killing innocent people. He would give her a chance to change sides but he knew that she would never accept it so it left him with two options to imprison her forever or kill her and Arthur knew the kindest thing to do would be to kill her. He had made his decision. Morgana had to die.

Morgana was slowly awakening from a terrible vision. She woke up gasping with her eyes clenched shut. Whey wasn't Gwen there to comfort her? Or Gaius there to reassure her? Then it all came flooding back to her. The memories of how they had betrayed her. She opened her eyes and now though of how they had locked her in a prison cell and were about to sentence her to death. Not to mention that they had ordered the most annoying person to watch over her.

"Hello my true love," said an annoying voice.

**"Thanks for reading. Tell me who you want Morgana to have one on one confrontations with. Next chapter is going to be called Morgana's Trial as I know many people want her to have a trial as Gwen and Arthur as King and Queen. Please review.**


	14. Morgana's Trial

**Thanks for reviewing everyone. This chapter is probably the most emotional. It consists of anger, rage, sadness, shock but has a few funny parts (when Gwaine is around even the most serious things can be funny). I am going to put all the one on one confrontations in the next chapter as if I didn't this chapter would be a bit long**

** DawnRuthless- Merlin and Arthur confrontation in the next chapter with Gwaine interrupting. Don't worry King Gremian will get a taste of his own medicine and more importantly it will be Morgana who does it. Your username reminds me of baby Dawn who seems to have vanished. Baby Dawn will be along soon.**

** TJTMaria- Hahaha Mordred has always been super cool and Morgana not so much. Morgana has a great trial though and acts interesting that even Gwaine takes a mental note.**

** gorgeousangel- I will make Gwen and Morgana have another showdown but not quite yet. In the next chapter there is going to be an emotional one on one scene between Gwen and Morgana. Hope that's alright.**

** Mike3207- Emotional scene for Merlin between himself and Morgana in the next chapter.**

** Autumn Moon Fae- Enjoy the Gwaine banter in this chapter.**

**So now it is "trial time!" (as Starzinmieyez said).**

* * *

"You want to know what I'm doing here, my love? Well I'm guarding you but I haven't figured out why I'm guarding you yet," Gwaine mocked. "It's either because you're dangerous or need protecting."

"From what?" Morgana murmured sleepily from under a thick fur blanket. She was still trying to grasp what was going on as the sedative hadn't fully worn off. Sluggishly taking in what was happening at the present moment, Morgana still had not realised that it was Gwaine who was standing outside her cell.

"I don't know but if you haven't noticed the world is not full love and roses. Oh wait... maybe it is. Your a rose and I am in love with you," Gwaine dreamily rejoiced.

"WHAT!" yelled Morgana jolting up into a sitting position. Chains, bars and Gwaine could only lead to one thing- imprisonment in Camelot.

"I reckon I am protecting you from mad men."

"Well you're not doing a very good job of it. You're a mad man," hissed Morgana drowsily. Morgana decided not to try and escape by using her magic until she had enough strength to. "Go away and then you will be doing a much better job."

"You know, I've been thinking about you lately. How rebellious and imperfect you are," Gwaine truthfully said.

Finally, Morgana thought. Torture is over. I can die without this little voice constantly buzzing in my ear.

"But to love is to view an imperfect person perfectly," Gwaine said from the depths of his heart.

Or maybe not, Morgana thought. I don't want him annoying me for the rest of his life.

Morgana felt herself steadily falling back until she was lying on the ground again. She found it unusually comfortable but perhaps this was because of her state of drowsiness. The black, thick, fur blanket protected her from the bone chilling winter winds that swirled around the dungeons.

Gwaine wasn't ready to give up on Morgana though. He had been stuck in the dungeons virtually all day and after riding furiously after Arthur yesterday was exhausted. In fact he was past exhausted. Gwaine was completely hyper. So hyper that he had cracked up at nothing. Hating the idea of Morgana being burnt at the stake, Gwaine sought to try and make her laugh. Hopefully then she would change sides. How very wrong he was.

"Well I'll tell you a bedtime story," Gwaine chortled. Though Morgana had her eyes shut, she still listened to Gwaine. Maybe the witch was hoping that Gwaine would let slip some useful information or just was seeking words of comfort. "Once upon a time there was a handsome knight called Gwaine." Gwaine swished his hair vainly and acted completely narcissistically. "He fell in love with a princess called Morgana and they got married and they all lived happily ever after." Morgana's eyes shot open at this and she drowsily stumbled to a feet. She moved like a drunken woman though alcohol had not even touched her lips in three years.

Wondering how strong a sedative Arthur had injected in her, Morgana used her last ounce to groan, "I've got a better ending. Morgana told Gwaine that she didn't love him so Gwaine jumped of a cliff. Nobody lived happily ever after, not even Morgana, because that is reality."

"Get some imagination," Gwaine chortled as Morgana's legs gave way. "You don't need any to see that I am a handsome knight and I don't need any to see your a pretty witch dressed in black who moves like a drunken idiot." It was too late Morgana had already fallen asleep. Gwaine slammed the bars of the cell in fury and went to sit down on the stool waiting very impatiently until his shift was over.

Arthur paced his chambers tensely. His own half sister. He was going to condemn her to death.

Fear fills him but it must consume her even more. It would take courage but he felt like he had none. True there wasn't another option but the guilt still squirms inside him. He needs a hand to hold. He can find one but the show of strength is necessary. He feels exhausted. He feels angry. But above all he feels grief stricken. She isn't even dead yet.

A brother's love for his sister is something that shall remain in him forever however much she wants him to be deceased. They are enemies. The love still runs through him. Not through her. Some may say: his loss, her gain. It is the opposite. He still has friends. She has none. She looks for a hand to hold. She shall find none except from her other hand.

In the end. The end of the end. He will have mourners. Have company when he dies. She shall die alone. People will rejoice at her death and very few people will mourn. To be touched by any love is a blessing. She ignores it. He accepts it. To accept it and love back is the best thing you can do. Ignore it. You are alone. Forever.

Memories flood through Arthur of himself and Morgana but he tries to stop them. They haunt him by reminding him of the happy and not so happy times they had shared.

Getting lost in the woods on her birthday. He remembered both him and Morgana arguing over whose fault it had been; her soaking him in a crystal clear pool of water and her also stealing his horse and sword because she thought that she was better at fighting than him.

Her besting him in sword fights numerous times and him getting so humiliated that he would not talk to her for a couple of weeks.

Her devastation from the nightmares she had, had of him dying.

He had failed to guide and protect her so now he was going to pay. Arthur had tried to protect her but she had always resisted him and did what she wanted. His guidance had been almost worthless through her eyes but to be honest she hadn't really needed. On the other hand Morgana's guidance had been completely essential to him. Without it he could not hope to be the King he was. Her protection, he hadn't really needed but it taught him to protect others even to the extent of laying his life on the line for them.

When Morgana woke up the next morning. Gwaine was not there and she began to feel fearful but managed to hide it with great skill. She wanted to know what was going to happen to her and hoped Gwaine was going to be back soon. Or maybe not. It took her a while to figure out how cold she was which was probably the main reasons for her waking up so she snatched the fur blanket and wrapped it round her. Hearing extremely flat singing about broken hearts, Morgana stood up, the blanket still drooping over her shoulders like a cape.

"Witchie! I have a new nickname for you. Ganganz. Pretty cool isn't it?" Gwaine laughed.

"My name is Morgana, Gwaine," Morgana hissed.

"Morgana Gwaine. Your last name is the same name as my first," Gwaine said with a stupid dumbfounded look on his face. Morgana carefully began to think of words to manipulate Gwaine into telling her what was happening to her without asking him directly.

"When I die I am going to have no surname," Morgana snarled. Gwaine suddenly acted completely serious but his ghostly laugh still echoed round the dungeon.

"I have just spoken to Ar- the King," Gwaine said just narrowly managing to avoid Arthur's name. He didn't wish to hurt Morgana's feelings when he teased her but just wanted to make her laugh or even smile. He still hadn't succeeded. He probably never would. No he would succeed. He needed to get more optimistic. "The King told me to tell you to prepare for your trial for this afternoon."

"Consider it done," laughed Morgana coldly. "There is no point. The day I do not get sentenced to death, you might actually shut up," Morgana now needed to get rid off Gwaine so she could try and escape with her magic. She needed to get him to go away quickly. If this ment acting insane and deluded. So what? It might just save her life. "Did you know that a ninety-nine out of a hundred people who hear you terrible voice every day suffer from hearing it?"

"That's good. At least one in a hundred people enjoy hearing my voice. I bet you are one of them," Gwaine chuckled. "I don't understand why my mum and dad taught me to talk and walk because they're spending the rest of their lives telling me to sit down and shut up."

"That was their gravest mistake of their lives," agreed Morgana. Come on Gwaine hurry up and go away.

"Oh I quite agree, ganganz. Telling me to sit down and shut up is defiantly the gravest mistake anyone can mistake," Gwaine said. "I wrote a song about you, my dear:

When I met you,

All my dreams came true,

Cau-"

"My dreams all come true because I am a seer but none of them revolved round you. You are not a seer, therefore your dreams can't come true," Morgana irritatedly triumphed at making Gwaine look like a fool. To be honest Gwaine didn't really need any help to look like a fool because it just came to him naturally. Morgana was getting rather impatient now and just wanted Gwaine to get out of the dungeons. "Five seconds and you better go away or else I will kill your friends," Morgana rashly threatened softly.

"One, two, three, four, five," counted Gwaine staying stationery. "I'm not going anywhere. How are you planning to kill my friends when you are stuck in there? I like the optimistic attitude but it's not really you. Face it, witchie, you live in the past and are very pessimistic but I still love you."

"Quiet," ordered Morgana. It was almost like magic but Gwaine stopped speaking for two whole seconds. Perhaps he wanted to please Morgana but he was probably more likely to have stopped speaking because he was suffering from shock. He hadn't seen that side to Morgana before. Well, he had seen her ordering people around when she had been Queen for the second time but not firmly like she just had done.

"If being in love with a witch is a crime, then I am going to put my life on the line just to be in love with you," Gwaine charmingly announced. Nor Gwaine or Morgana had noticed a guard creep in from behind.

"BE QUIET!" yelled Morgana."

"Sir Gwaine," the guard pompously said. "I do not think you should be talking to it."

"Pay her some respect," snarled Gwaine thinking that the guard had ruined his plan of getting her to change sides. "Morgana is a human. Whether nice or nasty she has feelings. It is not your place to tell a knight what to do. When guards 'guard' the prisoners they always seem to escape because you are so quiet and seem to always count sheep. It is what the guards do all day isn't it because they never ever seem to do their jobs so they just count sheep and try and get to sleep.

The guard looked very taken aback but nonetheless said, "I know you and Morgana are in love bu-"

"Is it just me or is everyone stupid these days. I suppose the guards of Camelot have always been stupid," Gwaine blankly interrupted just managing to keep a straight face. "Go away and count sheep." The guard obeyed Gwaine and departed the room but before that he gave Gwaine a rather concerned look wondering if Gwaine had a severe mental issue.

"Have I been here for two whole weeks," asked Morgana.

"I thought it had been two whole years," laughed Gwaine. "I mean no apples, no attacking beehives, no drinking any alcoholic drinks and no swordplay. Instead I just have to act like a stupid guard and count sheep to try and get to sleep. One sheep, two sheep, three sheep..."

Ten minutes later.

"Three hundred and five sheep, three hundred and six sheep, three hun-"

"Gwaine," hissed an annoyed Morgana. "It is time for my trial."

"Three hundred and eight. RIGHT! HOWEVER THOUGHT THIS UP IS A COMPLETE IDIOT! THIS WHY ALL THE GUARDS OF CAMELOT ARE IDIOTS!" yelled Gwaine who did not notice Arthur entering.

"Hello, sire," welcomed a irritated Gwaine. "I didn't just say that all the guards of Camelot were idiots.

"No you clearly didn't say," assured Arthur. "You shouted it. Let us a conversation outside which concerns counting sheep and flirting."

"Yeah," Gwaine said enthusiastically.

Finally, Morgana thought. I have escaped the living hell. She tried to open the cell door with her magic but it didn't work so she tried again.

Panicky slightly Morgana muttered, "Leoht," but the light in her hand in her hand that usually appeared did not appear.

"It won't work, Morgana," Arthur called strolling back. No-one else was here apart from the two of them.

"My dear brother. You are growing less stupid in your old age," Morgana whispered dangerously.

"At least I am not growing more stupid like you. Why did you release the giant that killed hundreds if not thousands of people," asked Arthur sadly.

"What giant?" wondered Morgana looking very puzzled.

"The giant of the mountains in the Saxon kingdom."

"That was not me. It was King Gremian. I heard him talking about himself sacrificing his people for nothing. He sent the giant out to trap you and you were stupid enough to destroy it," Morgana laughed softly. Arthur looked deeply into Morgana's eyes and could see that she was telling the truth.

"Since you are my sister, I am granting you the opportunity to change sides," Arthur seriously announced. "Mordred would ensure that you stick to all the rules and if not then you will be sentenced."

"I've got a few things to say about that. One I am your sister and isn't there a law saying that you shouldn't give your friends or family a benefit because you know them and two I would rather become a charcoaled mess then be allies with you," Morgana spat.

"Well if you would rather become a charcoaled mess that is fine by me and everybody else," Arthur laughed. He did not like being this mean to Morgana especially when she was about to die but he hoped if he was this mean then Morgana would become allies with him. Arthur highly doubted this but he had hope. Unlike his father and sister.

"My last wish is for you to remove Gwaine from guarding my cell because it is the worst torture you can give me."

"I shall not," Arthur firmly said. "May the rest of the days be subdued to Gwaine's mindless chatter."

"And may yours be filled with the sadness that you condemned your half sister to death," Morgana laughed silkily.

"I shall not feel any remorse about this. GUARDS!" Arthur shouted and a few guards came immediately to his side. "Take her up to the throne room." Arthur unlocked the cell and the guards took off her manacles to reveal her red irritated skin. The guards dragged Morgana not because she was unwilling to walk but because they did this to everyone. By the time they had done this Arthur had no doubt disappeared to the throne room.

"Guards," screamed Gwaine who was still waiting outside the dungeons. "Morgana can walk. You should only be dragging her like that if she refuses to walk. Let me do it." The guards had no choice but to let Gwaine do it. Gwaine took his sword out of his sheath but did not point it menacingly at Morgana. In fact Gwaine and Morgana just walked up to the throne room side by side like friends would. "There," Gwaine smugly said. "Am I a genius or am I a genius.

"Neither," a guard replied. Ignoring Gwaine's quiet protests and dragged Morgana into the throne room. As soon as the guards opened the door to the throne silence fell among everyone. A deathly silence. No one moved. It was like everybody had been struck immobile. As Morgana was dragged down the isle, she tried hard not to look at anyone but she couldn't help glancing at some people. All of people in the hall were glaring at her with looks of pure loathing on their faces. This did not unnerve Morgana but she couldn't help this sinking feeling. She had never wished to be loathed by everyone like this. What had she done? Or more like what lies had Arthur told them about her. The walk seemed to take a century long. A witch was what she was and she was going to tell them that. Pushing her into a kneeling position, Morgana purposely collapsed lying down on the stone cold floor. She refused to kneel before Arthur and Gwen even if it meant lying on the frozen stone floor. Arthur just ignored this but Gwen looked sad.

"We are all gathered here to discuss the fate of Morgana Pendragon wh-"

"I don't have a last name," Morgana calmly said. "Our father disowned me so I refuse to have that name for a surname."

Arthur ignored Morgana again and carried on, "Morgana has committed treason several times and therefore her sentence will be grave. Do you agree to illegally becoming Queen and ruling Camelot?"

"No," Morgana hissed. "I defiantly have never been Queen of Camelot. Do you have any evidence to support this accusation." Arthur did not ignore Morgana this time but gave her a bewildered stare. Gwaine was in the corner making a mental note to copy what Morgana was doing.

"Do you not remember creating a immortal army or allying with a warlord," Arthur formally asked.

"Now you mention it I do. I also remember the throne being very comfortable too."

"Do you admit to plotting against your king and queen."

"I do," Morgana said in a bored tone of voice.

"Do you admit to to trying to kill your queen and king."

"I do."Gwaine who was standing at the back of the hall had his hands over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. It sounded like Arthur and Morgana were getting married and he could barely help resist saying 'As knight of this realm I announce you man and wife'.

"Do you admit practising magic."

"I do but this is getting ridiculous. Gwaine shutting up is actually more likely than me not getting sentenced to death and that's saying something. Just hurry up and sentence me to death," Morgana stated impatiently. Gwaine could barely conceal a laugh and a few people near him turned and stared at him.

"Now you may present evidence to say that you are innocent or you may agree that you know you are guilty," Arthur announced. Morgana had never seen a trial quite like this as she had never seen the 'criminal' get to back up why they committed the 'crime'. Uther generally just sentenced them to death with barely any thought.

"I am innocent but I have nothing to say to you except that magic is a gift not a crime. Imagine your children were born with it and one by one they were burnt at the stake. They had done nothing wrong and they were reduced to ashes because they all had magic." Though Morgana did not realise it, the speech had come from the depths of her heart. Beneath that heartless, vengeful person there was still a good and kind heart. The kindness was seldom seen but if it was it was almost gone as quick as it came. These seldom moments of vulnerability had been visible when Agravaine had died (though a lot of it had been fear too) and when she had nearly condemned Mordred to death.

"Is that all," questioned Arthur. Though most of the people in the throne room thought the witch was speaking total nonsense, a few looked emotionally moved.

"Yes," Morgana sighed. "So dear brother, sentence your much loved sister to death. This trial is extremely irksome and pointless."

"First I shall need to have a witness to say why you you are guilty," Arthur announced.

"Why? Because you are too stupid to realise that I have broke your preposterous laws," Morgana mocked. As Morgana said this a teenager stood up and walked to the front.

"I, Thomas Hawthorn, aged seventeen, am witness to Morgana's treachery. Due to your bloodthirsty harshness I have lost four members of my family. I luckily am able to fend for myself and keep the farm I have going but that will not bring back my father, little brother, two little twin sisters and the many friends you have killed back. When your immortal army smashed through or village many of my friends were killed but my family were luckily one of the only families that weren't killed or wounded. During your first reign of terror, the knights of Camelot wouldn't obey you so you ordered your soldiers to shoot arrows randomly at innocent peasants. My father was in the town that day collecting herbs to make medicine for my little brother who was very sickly and was killed by one of your soldiers. My father's body was never returned to us. When I realised that my father wasn't going to come back I set out to get the life saving herbs but I was too late. By the time I arrived back home my little brother was dead. He was only eight years old and died with only my two three year old sisters for company and they just cried because they were too young to understand. A year later my two twin sisters were killed because of the ghosts that you let loose into the world. The first night of those ghost killing people one of my sisters were killed. I tried to take me and my other little sister to Camelot for safety but we did not make it in time and that night my other little sister was killed. I remember my little sister's last words which were, 'Where is Maisie'. Maisie was my other little sister who had died the night before. Now thanks to you all of my family are dead except from me." Thomas's look of pure loathing could kill and even Morgana felt sorry for what had happened to him.

Arthur stood and said, "This leaves me one option." Morgana who was still lying on the floor had slithered her way behind Arthur before standing up and pushing Gwen's throne right over. Fortunately Gwen could sense the throne tipping a jumped off it before it took it down. Morgana then collapsed on Arthur's throne and lounged until she was quite comfortable. Gwaine ran towards Morgana with a fleeting look of laughter on his face.

Arthur bolted around and seized Morgana's raw red wrists. He hauled her onto her feet and murmured into her ear. "Enough Morgana." It was like Arthur could see through all Morgana's confidence and evilness. He could see that she was terrified of death. Arthur's words were said soothingly but they just infuriated Morgana. She smirked at him evilly and kicked at his ankles.

"Not likely," Morgana muttered back in Arthur's ear as the two guards hauled her away from Arthur.

"You must be burnt the stake," Arthur stated before striding out the room and having a mental breakdown. These words hit Morgana like lightning. Though she knew what was coming it still gave her a shock. She felt Gwaine grasping her arms above where she was sore and guiding her back to the dungeons. Her body felt numb but her legs kept moving without her telling them too. Morgana was terrified. She didn't know what death would be like. It would painful but she wondered if the world would just suddenly black out or if her soul would remain in her. Morgana felt herself falling and Gwaine yelling her name. After that she just felt darkness, everywhere.

* * *

**Thanks for reading and please review! Gwaine is the only person who is actually being nice to Morgana, Morgana's magic has mysteriously vanished and Gaius and Merlin have seemingly disappeared. Merlin was going to be in this chapter but it was a nine hundred word scene so that scene is going to be in the next chapter.**


	15. One Night

** Autumn Moon Fae- "I definitely have never been Queen of Camelot." In that line Morgana was being completely sarcastic because it was a stupid question Arthur asked. Hahaha. I'm glad you liked Gwaine in the last chapter.**

** gorgeousangel- I reckon that Morgause told Morgana that Arthur was born using magic and from Morgana's point of view she probably thinks Arthur shouldn't exist. Making her the only Pendragon and heir. Presuming that Morgana is older than Arthur, Uther would have already known that he would have an heir so using magic for Arthur's birth was unnecessary. It's a bit complicated but I hope it helped.**

** RealaCarsona- I'm glad you like it. **

Gwaine had felt Morgana's arm becoming increasingly colder and had felt her presence drifting but that was to be expected though Gwaine didn't expect. Perhaps it was the fact that she was a heartless witch, that made Gwaine think that Morgana would act different to being sentenced to death. Now, beneath it all, Gwaine could see how human she was. Morgana may have been as hard to crack as a coconut but Gwaine had managed to find his way through her layers of nastiness to her true heart. He had seen the fleeting moment of vulnerability and sympathy when the boy had blamed her for destroying his family.

When Morgana had fallen out of consciousness Gwaine had yelled her name and caught her before gently placing her on the ground and feeling for her pulse. It came as relief to feel Morgana's pulse beating extremely slowly. Gwaine didn't know why it was a relief as it would have been kinder for Morgana just to die right there in his arms. The knight guessed that it was just trauma and fear that she was suffering from. Picking Morgana up, Gwaine tenderly carried her to back to the dungeons and lay her carefully on the straw covered floor wrapping the huge, fur blanket round her. The witch still shivered violently though. Gwaine took one of Morgana's frozen hands and began to rub it between his warm hands. If she was going to die, Gwaine would want to make her have a comfortable and peaceful last day. Well, as comfortable and peaceful anyone could have with thought of dying consuming them.

As he wondered back to Camelot after a entire day of sadness spent in the woods where he sat supposidly gathering rare herbs that Gaius, Merlin took into account what had just happened. Merlin couldn't of stayed in Camelot and witness Morgana being sentenced to death. After the magical battle he and Morgana had, he had teleported himself, Arthur, Morgana and King Stewart out of the castle. After that Merlin had gave Arthur a magical poppet and told him to keep it near Morgana every night and she would be powerless. Running away while Arthur lifted Morgana up and checked if King Stewart was alright, Merlin had quickly turned himself young again. He had confronted a stressed Princess Mithian that was out of her mind with worry and had tried to convince her that he had got lost in the woods for two hours. When Arthur had managed to find his way to Mithian and Merlin, Merlin had acted elated and surprised. Especially at Arthur bundling his half-sister in his arms. Arthur had gently lifted Morgana, like you would do with a sickly child, onto his horse with sorrow in his eyes. Looking like he was on the edge of tears, Princess Mithian didn't dare to ask him what had happened. They rode steadily for the rest of the day in silence until they had entered the boundaries of Arthur's kingdom and made camp. Following old Merlin's advice, Arthur had kept the poppet near Morgana all day. Arthur had also kept her well sedated all day. As well as ceasing her from escaping the sedative would keep her calm and peaceful in the last few days of her life.

To busy dwelling on the horrible decisions he had made Merlin had walked right into a young girl with dark pale young girl stumbled but just managed to keep her balance. It was the early hours of the morning and Merlin had not been expecting anybody else to be walking around. The fact that it was still quite dark did not help Merlin avoid walking into her.

"I'm sorry," Merlin apologised.

"It is alright. I am fine," the girl replied hastily tucking the pendent from her necklace behind the top of her dress. Merlin's eyes had caught the pendant of the necklace. It looked like a pure gold dragon decorated with jewels. Compared to the normal plain dress she was wearing the necklace didn't match. The necklace would have cost a fortune and the grey dress very little.

"Nice necklace," Merlin complimented. "I'm Merlin by the way." Looking at her face she had eyes the same colour as the sea was under a stormy sky. Her hair was jet black very long and plaited. He would have estimated that she was around fifteen years old due to her appearance and use of language.

"My name is Cate and my necklace is a family heirloom. Do you live in Camelot?" the girl asked. Her accent was strange not like any accent Merlin had ever heard before but she still used quite formal language.

"Yes. I'm King Arthur's man servant. You don't sound from around here. Have you come here to find a job?"

"No, not to find a job. My mother and father both came from around these parts but there both dead. I grew up along way away from here," Cate explained. Merlin stare at Cate. She didn't seem to be upset at all when she said her parents were both dead. "I came here to ask a question and you shall be able to answer it."

"Me?" Merlin asked uncertainly with a puzzled look on his face.

"What happened to the last Dragonlord, Balinor," Cate whispered. This really shocked Merlin and creeped him out. Did she know Balinor was his father? Did that then mean she knew that he had magic? Or did she know that he was Emrys?

"Why? How did you know?" Merlin fearfully asked.

"My father was a friend of his so I went to seek Balinor out. I never knew my father because he died before I was born but he left me a letter which told me that if I ever needed any help that Balinor would give it to me and the letter said vaguely where Balinor dwelled. A man in tavern near where Balinor lived was desperate to feed his six starving children but knew where Balinor dwelled so I gave him the food and told me where about the cave was. He also informed me that a few years ago King Arthur and his manservant came to find Balinor. I knew that I probably would not be able to talk to King Arthur so I asked what his servant looked like and came to Camelot."

"Balinor is dead," Merlin announced glumly. "Were you hoping that he would look after you?"

"That and I was hoping to ask him a question. When my mother was dying she told me to find something but I suppose I could ask you now. She asked me to find..." Cate whispered the last word of the sentence in his ear. Merlin's eyes widened in shock. This was the last thing he expected her to say. He began to wonder if Cate was just making this all up or not. Merlin sprinted up to Gaius's chambers leaving poor Cate struck on the spot.

"Merlin? What's wrong," Gaius asked. Gaius had been lying down in his bed but had been unable to sleep due to visions of poor Morgana in the flames.

"Well," Merlin sighed and he began to tell Gaius what Cate told him.

Back in the dungeons Morgana was restlessly tossing and turning as she normally did when having a prophetic nightmare but the exception this time was that the nightmare had no prophetic properties. Merlin had made sure of that. Seeing that Morgana was obviously uncomfortable Gwaine entered the cell and shook Morgana awake. The instant Morgana was awake she felt reactively for her dagger but could not find it so instead she hastily tried to hit whoever was standing beside her.

"Morgana. Witchie. It's Gwaine. I not going to hurt you," Gwaine coaxed. Morgana shot up and looked around in fear. She was still half asleep but was looking quite hysterical like she had been years ago.

"Gwaine?" sobbed Morgana.

"Yes, it's Gwaine," Gwaine whispered trying to calm Morgana. He needed to keep her reasonably quiet before the guards came along to investigate the commotion and did something dreadful.

"It's all my fault. She's d-dead," cried Morgana. She was still half dreaming and was revisiting her memory of killing Morgause. "She made do it. She wanted to d-die. She wanted to d-do it for me. I killed her. I hate myself. I want to end. I WANT TO D-DIE!" Gwaine made a small shushing sound and felt the back of Morgana's neck which was dangerously cold. Her forehead had sweat which was so cold Gwaine was surprised that it had not frozen to ice.

"I'll go and get something to help you, Morgana," Gwaine called striding out the cell and locking it. Morgana had already fallen asleep though.

Hastily pacing to the kitchen, Gwaine found himself face to face with a young blonde cook.

"Stealing food from the kitchens are you?" the cook scolded giggling.

"No," Gwaine charmed innocently. "I was wondering if you could make me a drink of warm milk and honey. I have been in the dungeons all day for the past couple of days and have an irritated throat." The cook couldn't resist Gwaine on charming mode and dashed off to prepare the warm milk. Gwaine hummed happily trying to deny how upset he was to himself. He had made a friendship with the enemy and there had been bars between them when they had done it. A one way friendship. He liked her to some extent, not including all the awful things she had done, but she loathed him. From then until the cook came back with the milk Gwaine dwelled on thoughts of random things such as why is wine more posh then mead when mead tastes much more appetising.

"Sir," the cook shyly muttered bringing Gwaine back into reality and back to the thought of poor frozen Morgana. Handing over two blankets and the tankard of milk the cook said, "I thought you might need these incase you get chilled down in the dungeons."

"Nice one," Gwaine flirted. "I would have never have thought of that. You're a genius. What's your name?"

"Devona, sir," the cook murmured blushing a deep shade of magenta.

"Pretty name for a pretty girl. Got to go. See you around." Gwaine rushed away into the distance, leaving Devona looking extremely elated until she looked down at her scarred wrists.

When Gwaine entered the dungeons, Morgana was sitting up violently trembling.

"So," Morgana mocked clenching her mouth shut afterwards to stop her teeth from chattering. "Has the Knight of Camelot been killing more people?"

"No. I have been out flirting and dreamily about mead." To Morgana's shock, Gwaine unlocked the cell and strolled towards Morgana. Morgana glared into his soft chestnut eyes disguising her anger with fear. Gwaine took the tankard of milk and placed it into Morgana's hands. The heat of the tankard instantly made her stiff hands loosen.

"Is this for me?" Morgana stuttered completely shocked.

"No it's just for you to sit and hold, genius," Gwaine sarcastically laughed sitting down beside Morgana.

"Wha-"

"I was only joking," Gwaine hastily injected. Suspiciously looking at the milk to check it hadn't been laced, the sweet vapours Morgana could smell made her mouth water. The only things she had consumed and drank since waking up in prison was water, half stale bread and slightly stale cheese. Morgana sipped the frothy milk and the combination of sweetness and warmness overwhelmed her. The witch could feel the hot liquid rush to her stomach. "It's honey that is mixed in with the warm milk. My mother used to give it to me when I was unwell as a child. Are you alright?"

"What do you think," snapped Morgana rashly. Morgana regretted what she had said the minute she had said it. Gwaine had been protecting her and standing up for her since she had been imprisoned by Arthur but she could not disgrace herself by being even slightly friendly to him.

Forgiving her as the expression on Morgana, Gwaine realised his mistake and corrected himself by saying, "I meant you were pretty shaken when I woke you up- you kept saying it was all your fault."

"When did you wake me up," asked a bewildered Morgana.

"Not that long ago. Do you not remember me shaking you awake or saying that I'd get something to help you?" Gwaine did not want to go into too much detail so he would avoid angering or upsetting Morgana.

"No," Morgana replied truthfully. She was beginning to wonder if he was mocking her. Finishing the last of the milk, Morgana wrapped the blankets Gwaine had brought firmly round herself. She had one night left. She hoped Gwaine would stay with her as he would be a great distraction of the pain she would feel. Although her eyes were closed and she was lying down Morgana was still very alert and responded to any noises in the bone dead silence. Feeling Gwaine's presence right next to her gave her the strength to remain fairly calm. Hearing footsteps steadily growing louder Morgana tensely bolted up. The tenseness was contagious and Gwaine stood up and drew out his sword. He stuck it back in the sheath when he caught sight of Merlin strolling into the dungeons. Gwaine went to embrace his good friend locking Morgana's cell behind him.

"Merlin, you alright?" interrogated Gwaine stressfully.

"Not too bad I suppose," Merlin lied.

"I need to tell Leon something," Gwaine pressed. "Could you keep an eye on her for a few minutes?"

"I suppose," Merlin sighed.

"I won't forget it," Gwaine promised dashing out the room with great haste. Morgana stood up and trembled across so that her and Merlin's faces were inches apart.

"Morgana, I don't want this to happen. We can find another way," Merlin pleaded.

"My mind hasn't changed and never sha-"

"You'd rather die?"

"Dying is easy. Why do you care? Are you not happy that I am going to die?" Morgana's soft voice angrily questioned.

"Oh I care. Who are you and what have you done with Morgana?" Merlin asked sadly.

"I am Morgana. I think you need a new brain. Did the fommorah destroy you're brain?"

"No. You are not Morgana. The girl I knew and liked called Morgana was kindhearted and hated bloodshed and death among the innocent. You are bitter and have killed numerous people including children therefore you are not Morgana," Merlin said.

"I am Morgana. I am trying to stop the persecution of innocent people but to do that I have to unfortunately sacrifice some people. Long term it will be better for everyone."

"Arthur is beginning to accept magic or are you too stupid to realise?" Merlin argued.

"He won't really accept magic. What I want most of all is revenge. He condemned me to the Isle of the Blessed for three years and then left me to die with that animal, Gremian," Morgana hissed.

"It's your own fault, Morgana."

"You are completely deluded now Merlin and you will pay. I shall have my revenge," Morgana laughed. Morgana's laughs turned the water to ice. They were so cold and bitter."

"You can barely have your revenge Morgana. You are going to die," Merlin fumed. His strategy of trying to make Morgana show signs of redemption had drastically failed. "In flames." This was his last chance but Gwaine came bounding into the dungeons to Morgana's aid.

"Leave her alone, Merlin. She is going to die so let her last night be peaceful," Gwaine whispered into Merlin's ear. "She won't change her mind." Merlin deeply sighed and decided that it would be best to leave Morgana in Gwaine's care.

Deciding to try and change Arthur's mind Merlin tiredly strolled up to Arthur's chambers. He wasn't shocked to see that Arthur's possessions were all over the place, some broken. No doubt Arthur had come back from the trial and out of anger thrown his possessions around. Arthur was sitting in a chair gazing into space and didn't even move when Merlin had entered the room.

"You can't do this Arthur," Merlin pleaded quietly.

"DO YOU THINK I WANT TO!" Arthur raged. "I HAVE NO CHOICE! IF I DO NOT KILL HER THE PEOPLE WILL START RIOTING! YOU CANNOT EVEN BELIEVE TO THINK WHAT I AM FEELING!" Arthur paused for a moment, thinking what to rage about next. "YOU ARE JUST A LAZY SERVANT WHO HAS NO RIGHT TO SAY WHAT HE HAS SAID! YOU ARE DISMISSED FROM MY SERVICES AND I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN! IF I DO I WILL SEE TO IT THAT YOU ARE KILLED!" Gwen hearing all the commotion had decided to investigate the source of it. A glistening tear was running down her cheek but apart from that, Gwen seemed to be not afraid o Arthur at all.

"He didn't mean it," Gwen whispered to Merlin. "He did the same to me earlier. It's got to be expected. Let me deal with him while you relax." After managing to calm her husband done Gwen went back to her chambers to cry. One night was left in that one night no one could sleep. Gwaine and Morgana both sat shivering and gazing into space. Arthur lay down on his bed and tried to distract himself but failed. Gwen had collapsed on the floor of her chambers and let the tears stream down her face. Even Elvina (her maid) couldn't calm her. Merlin had sprinted out of Camelot to the forest and was continuously thinking of poor Morgana. Gaius lay in his bed too trying to distract himself with a book.

"Morgana," Gwen called. It was just a few hours before Morgana was going to die and Gwen couldn't stand not speaking to Morgana for one last time.

"My little Queenie, come to gloat," Morgana said her voice trembling.

"No I have came to apologise for whats going to happen to you. I'm so sorry but it has to happen," Gwen stated clearly.

"I felt the same about killing you," Morgana lied trying to make Gwen upset. It worked and Gwen ran away in tears. Morgana felt the seconds of her life ticking away. One hour to go. Thirty minutes. Fifteen minutes. Morgana felt truly sick. Ten minutes. Five minutes.

"It's time," Gwaine sadly announced. "Prepare yourself."

**Thanks for reading. A traditional cliffhanger for you. Review, please. Make me happy and motivated**


	16. Morrigan

**M TJTMaira- Yep you're right Morgana has been extremely frustrating recently but being afraid is a pretty good excuse. Hahaha and Arthur is extremely extremely emotional but not extremely destructive.**

** Autumn Moon Fae- I feel really sorry for Gwaine as he is trying to be nice and is getting payed back with snide comments. I'm sure Morgana will always be able to have a reason to be evil. She is too stubborn and determined.**

**Enjoy this chapter.**

Morgana's heart pounded vigorously making her feel nauseous and faint. The distant noises of Gwaine opening her cell felt like they were in another world.

"Morgana," Gwaine called softly. "Come on."

"I thought you were different from the other knights. Obviously not. You have quite some nerve to lead me to my doom," Morgana said dangerously but softly.

"Would you want me to let the guards drag you there?" Gwaine retorted. Morgana knew the answer to that question but was too stubborn to give in. At least Morgana was going to learn something by being burnt at the stake- that dying wasn't so easy after all.

Gwaine tenderly grasped Morgana's arm and lead her out of the dungeons. They walked at a quickened pace until they got to the door of the courtyard. Gwaine stopped right there willing himself to go on. He knew that the crowds for Morgana's execution would be like nothing he had seen at any other execution. They would be extraordinarily vast as Morgana was an enemy that everyone loathed and was also the kings half-sister. It was a seldom occurrence if no one knew anyone that had been indirectly killed by Morgana.

Gwaine knew it was cruel but it had to be done so he forced the door open with all the strength he could muster. As Gwaine had foretold. the crowds outside were crazy and hateful. Arthur stood with a couple of guards on the balcony but Gwen was nowhere to be seen. Nor was Gaius or Merlin. Leading a furious Morgana to the stake, he passed jeering people who taunted her.

"Witch! You deserve no less," cried out one man.

"Murderess," people taunted quietly.

"Traitor," snarled people that Morgana had known before she had turned against Camelot. Everyone wanted to hurt Morgana either physically or mentally. She just ignored it as she had been picked on by nearly everybody in the world and was used to it by now. People tried to touch the witch or hit or kick her or even pull out her midnight locks of hair. Morgana had decided to take up the act of damsel in distress. It would torture Gwen and Arthur even more than her rebellious act, though it would make her appear considerably weak. Her death would have an impact on everybody in Camelot. To sentence her to death was either going to end up as a good or bad decision. The negative side of sentencing Morgana to death would be rebelling from other sorcerers and sorceresses. They had all heard about the famous Morgana Pendragon, High Priestess of the Old Religion, uniting the old ways so surely her death would come as a blow to then and rouse the rebellious creatures inside them. The positive side being that there would be no bloodshed or deaths caused by the witch.

Menacingly pointing his sword at the crowd to stay out of their path, Gwaine had to shove a few people out the way. At one point the number of people dying to physically hurt Morgana became so overwhelming that Gwaine had to call the guards to come and help him. Every inch of Morgana's body was either cut or badly bruised by the time her and Gwaine reached the stake. Gwaine had tried to protect her without inflicting pain in the people who had tried to hurt Morgana, therefore he had a bloody wound across his face. Gwaine gave Morgana's arm a small squeeze as he hauled her onto the pyre. He wanted to reassure her but it would be hopeless because it wouldn't have any effect. Gwaine's muscles had turned rock solid and he nodded to the guards to tie Morgana up as he could not persuade himself to do it. Instead, Gwaine turned away, walking to the door that he had just come out, his head bowed down staring at the ground. As soon as they brought the torch, Gwaine had decided he would slip into the castle, unnoticed.

"At least when I ruled Camelot I abided by my own laws," Morgana shouted dangerously. Suddenly there was a great chill in the and even the elated people now felt considerably miserable. "You sought out a sorcerer to heal your father but the sorcerer killed your father. That's why you do not tell anyone your deepest secrets, especially the creep you had for an uncle. So you've killed your father and now your are going to kill your dear sister. What kind of people are you to want a King that kills in cold blood? Kills innocent and guilty alike whether children or adults. Magic is no crime, just a gift. May all your children become ashes if they are found with magic." The two guards forced a struggling Morgana to the stake. If looks could kill, Morgana was killing thousands of people. Binding her wrists with rough rope, the guards hands got drenched in Morgana's blood as blood was gushing out her wrists. The rope had broken her skin which had already been raw red. Arthur whom had been completely silent the whole time and had been watching everything blankly nodded his head before heading into the castle. Gwaine followed Arthur's suit but managed to do it without attracting any attention to himself. A guard took the torch and lit the pyre. In reaction to this the crowds jeers and cries became alarmingly loud. The flame spread like wild fire, snaking its way to the stake. Morgana's emerald eyes looked reflected the flames making them look like they were on fire. Making Morgana look wild, vicious and untameable. The flames also gave her pale skin a red tinge. Seconds later, Morgana was not visible because of thick smoke and giant, dancing flames. The crowd grew more and more elated as they sang, cheered and jeered. A few minutes later the fire had grown to an uncontrollable size and even the partying crowd was backing away. None of them daring to think what it would have been like if there were in Morgana's position.

Merlin! Come to the usual clearing. There was only one living thing he knew that could talk like this- Kilgharrah. It took two minutes for Merlin to dart through the trees to the clearing. He had remained in the forest all night, not wanting to infuriate a grief stricken and furious Arthur or witness Morgana's execution.

"You were quick, young warlock," Kilgharrah boomed.

"I was in the woods," Merlin replied glumly. "It's broad daylight and someone will see you."

"I must tell you that a new prophecy has been seen by a seer," Kilgharrah called, taking off smoothly.

"I don't want to know what it is," Merlin firmly shouted. "I've seen into the future and it just spoils and creates what happens. You have told me what Morgana and Mordred are going to become but in the end perhaps things would be different if you hadn't told me." The dragon steadily began to descend landing gracefully on a deserted island.

"No will hear our important news here," the Great Dragon tranquilly spoke. "You are angry at me, warlock. Why?"

"I'm not," Merlin fumed.

"Why are you angry then? I can sense emotions. After living for a thousand years, I could not imagine how stupid I would be if I could not sense emotions."

"Me and Arthur... Well we had an argument and he, um, he threatened me with death and he said he would kill me if he ever saw me again."

"We cannot let this happen. You must apologise. What was this argument about?" Kilgharrah inquisitively asked.

"Not a lot really. Arthur's just mentally breaking down so he isn't himself," Merlin sighed, exasperated.

"Why is he breaking down? It sounds serious?"

"He is about to kill his sister," Merlin stuttered.

"The witch?" Merlin nodded mutely. "You must not let this happen." Merlin stared at the dragon bewildered. Kilgharrah who hated Morgana did not want her dead. It took some time for Kilgharrah's words to sink in to him.

"WHAT!" Merlin gasped, his heart thumping so fast he felt sick.

"You need to free the witch and then kill her yourself," the Great Dragon snarled. "We cannot afford for Arthur to be emotionally unstable especially with the Saxons around."

"So you want to make me emotionally unstable," Merlin confusedly asked.

"No bu-"

"It doesn't matter," Merlin retaliated darkly. "Morgana

will be dead already."

"The burden on your shoulders is increasing bit by bit everyday but this is going to be alarmingly difficult even for you. You shall have to protect Camelot from the Saxons, make sure that Arthur doesn't metally breakdown and prevent Arthur's bane from occurring soon. The seers are saying that Arthur's bane shall soon be nigh. You must ensure that this doesn't happen. The Once and Future King of Albion must live to a good age and he has not even united the lands of Albion yet. Mordred must perish. He is no friend to any of us. The seers spoke of three people who would need to ally together to save Arthur from his bane. These three names are Emrys," Kilgharrah leaned forward and whispered the last two names in Merlin's ear.

"Morrigan," Merlin deeply replied. "I have defiantly heard of Morrigan somewhere but I have not heard of the other name. Have you heard of those names?"

"Not the last name but I have heard of Morrigan. Morrigan is the Goddess of battle and strife though I do not think the legend is referring to this mythical Goddess. I think it would have to be a human who was named after the Goddess," Kilgharrah droned.

"So you want me to find two people that I haven't even heard of while protecting and changing the King's mental state," Merlin asked incredulously.

"Yes," replied Kilgharrah hopefully.

"That is almost impossible," Merlin groaned.

"That is what a pessimist says but an optimist would say that it is possible. Looking at the same view from different angles."

"Thanks for the riddle, old friend. I should probably be getting back to Camelot soon. I need to make up with Arthur and Gaius will be out of his mind with worry."

"I have nothing more to say to you except from good luck," Kilgharrah wisely said. "Let the possible begin."

"More like let the impossible begin," Merlin muttered.

Even as the flames rose higher and higher a girl sprinted to them. Her long black hair lashing out behind her. All of a sudden a mighty wind blew the fire and smoke towards the poor girl. Inhaling as little smoke as possible she scarcely missed the fire and unfortunately burned her milky white arms. This wind extinguished the fire which had been uncontrollably raging for at least fifteen minutes. When all the smoke and fire had finally cleared everyone was shocked to see an almost unscathed Morgana still tied to an intact stake. The aroma changed from a joyful one to an intense one within a split second. Cheering and jeering from the crowd turned into worried whispers and some people fled from the witch, fearing for their lives. The only part of Morgana which was scathed was her wrists which were still dripping with blood from when they had roughly tied her up. The girl with the black hair who arms were burnt was dashing towards Morgana, deftly stabbing the guards which tried to block her path. Holding her sword up to a struggling Morgana, the sawed through the ropes being careful not to damage Morgana's wrists even further. The girl threw her sword carelessly away supporting Morgana who looked close to collapsing. Sir Leon picked up the girls sword and pointed it at the girl.

"Careful," the girl warned. "I am thirteen years old and my sister shall hear about this."

"What do you think you are you doing?" Sir Leon asked violently. He stared deeply into the girls stormy blue eyes trying to work out what kind of accent she had as he had not heard an accent like it before.

"I am defiantly not trying to save Morgana," the girl giggled showing no fear. Morgana woke up from the trance that she was in when her name was said and stared blankly at Sir Leon having trouble taking in what was going on.

"What is your name?" Sir Leon snarled not amused at how funny the girl was finding this situation.

"Why should I tell you?" the girl cheekily retorted.

"Because I have a sword pointing against your back," Sir Leon pointedly said.

"Ah true but I still shan't tell you."

"HER NAME IS CATE!" shouted a man in the crowd.

"That is incorrect," the girl silkily laughed. "I lied to the whole world telling them my name was Cate and I do intend on telling you my real name just yet." The girl was telling the truth the name Cate was merely a name that she used to hide her true identity. In fact only two people had ever known her true name, her mother and herself. All this commotion and screams had caused Arthur to timidly venture back out onto the balcony to see what was the cause of this distress.

"I take it you are Arthur Pendragon, the boy who nearly condemned his sister to a slow and painful death. But why would you kill your sister?" the girl taunted.

"This is none of your concern, child," Arthur pretended to fume though he was not too sure why he was feeling extremely elated to see Morgana still alive. He knew that he was going to have to kill Morgana anyway but he still felt relieved to see those healthy emerald eyes.

"But it is my concern, Arthur Pendragon. I have two secrets that I shall tell you. Hleap on bæc." Suddenly Sir Leon was blasted back as the girl's blue flickered gold. The girl grabbed the sword that Sir Leon had dropped and carefully threw it at Morgana who adeptly caught it. A came gliding at the girl who snatched it and pulling Morgana along with her, started running while yelling, "THE OTHER SECRET IS I AM MORGANA'S HALF-SISTER!"

Morgana had finally caught up on what was going on and bewilderedly shouted, "WHAT!"

"I'll explain later," her sister said. "It would take out the fun of trying to escape from Camelot.

"After them," Sir Leon ordered saving poor Arthur the trouble. Arthur trembled back inside the castle only thinking of one thing- blissful sleep. It would have been too stressful for Arthur to think of anything else. Arthur's heart was broken and he was hurt almost to the point of human endurance but he was a natural born warrior so he was going to fight it until he dropped dead.

Lunging a sword into a soldiers heart, Morgana's half sister dashed up to a terrified rearing horse and was able to soothe it within the blink of an eye. Suddenly a guard took Morgana's half sister by surprise and deeply wounded her stomach. Morgana's sister got her revenge, easily finishing off the guard.

"MORGANA!" she shouted painfully wincing. "Hurry up and get on this horse." Morgana instantly mounted the horse and without any delay the horse galloped off. The guards had no hope of keeping up with them though a few daring guards threw themselves on horses backs and payed the price by getting thrown off. They knocked over tables and wrecked the whole place as they galloped out Camelot struggling to stay on the horse's back as the horse was not wearing any tack. As they began to gallop away from Camelot, Morgana could sense her sister falling unconscious which made the ride a whole load more daunting. The horse almost seemed to sense that her sister was unconscious and immediately ceased moving. Morgana wearily slid off the horse, ripping a long strip of material off her cloak. Cautiously she tied this material round the horses neck and coaxed the horse to move on with her sister still on the horses back. Fortunately they had made it into the depths of the forest making it hard for the guards of Camelot to track her. Gwaine was right about one thing. The guards of Camelot were extremely stupid.

Leading the horse, it took Morgana twenty minutes to arrive at her hovel. Morgana was fit to collapse and her wrists were throbbing extremely painfully. It was extreme courage that made Morgana carry her sisters frail body into the hovel. When Morgana entered her hovel though, it was not empty. A young man with dark hair was lounging in a chair.

"Oh, hello," he said happily.

**Thanks for reading. A lot more will be found out about Morgana's sister in the following chapter. Also why Morgana wasn't killed by the fire, will be found out. Everything is going to be linked together. Please review**.


	17. Arthur's Bane

** Autumn Moon Fae- Yep Mordred is really cool unlike Agravaine. Gwaine now has competition for the coolest and funniest person in Merlin.**

** ladyofice- Thank you so much you just about made my day. I am not planning to kill off Morgana, just yet. The mysterious discovery of the name of Morgana's sister will be revealed in this chapter. Never seen GoT so can't really comment on the similarities.**

** TJTMaria- Look on the bright side of life, I haven't killed Morgana off just yet. Morgana's sister's actual name will be revealed in this chapter. I wonder if you'll be tricked...**

**If you can remember all the way back to the second chapter when Morgana saw three images in her nightmare then you will know that all of them have come true. The roomy cell with chains was when Morgana was captured in Camelot , the agitated King filled with rage was King Gremian and the injured black haired girl is Morgana's sister.**

**Enjoy!**

Morgana nearly dropped her grimy sister with shock. Out of all things she happened today she hadn't expected to find someone, she knew too well, lounging on her chair. Cautiously she placed her fragile and wounded sister on her bed.

"You must be wishing for a death penalty, Merlin," Morgana smirked. Approaching, Merlin with caution, Morgana remembered that she had a dagger stowed under the bed sheets so she slowly turned around, bent over her sister and pretended to examine her sister's wounds. She knew that Merlin was watching her every move so she carefully measured her movements slipping the dagger into her leather boot. Hastily, standing up and strolling over to Merlin a large evil smirk spread across her face.

"No I don't want to be sentenced to death," Merlin firmly said.. I have been called up by the great and mighty Emrys who wants for you to make a truce with Arthur," Morgana's dingy face became pallid and afraid before she swept that emotion off her face and burst out laughing. Her laughs were so cold and evil that they cracked any stone within fifty metres of her.

"Merlin," Morgana hissed cutting off her laughs in a split second. "I know you lying. Why fabricate such a story? You are not going to be able to save your own skin with fabricating a story is not realistic." Merlin was so stupid that Morgana was pretty sure that he had gone past the limit of human stupidness. At times, though, he could be wise and was so nosy that he managed to know everything that was going on. Before now, she had wondered how Merlin managed to escape from situations that she would only mange to escape from by the tips of her fingers. But, alas, it was not Merlin who had figured all of these things and managed to single handedly escape from deathly situations. No it was Emrys. Emrys her destiny and doom.

"If I wanted to save my own skin, then why did I remain sitting in your hut. You are weaponless and I could have ran right past you," Merlin persisted.

"How am I meant to know the mind of a stupid servant like you?" Morgana whispered softly but dangerously. "Is a long time side affect of planting formorrah in someone mean that they began deranged and loopy? But, no. It cannot be because you were already deranged and have been since the day you were might have inherited it from your good for nothing, widowed mother who makes porridge that tastes of clumps of soggy paper or your dead father. But alas your dead father was probably more stupid than your mother." Merlin could feel rage building up in himself and he was just waiting for the right moment to release him. But then reality came crashing down on Merlin. How did Morgana know his father was dead? Did she actually know who his father was? Panic flooded through Merlin. She might even know that he was a sorcerer whom the druids knew as Emrys.

"How do you know that my father is dead?" Merlin growled.

"I did not," Morgana laughed taking in Merlin's anger "I lucky a guess. Going to cry about it. Your father probably took his own life because he had mental problems." Morgana was surprised to see Merlin going red with rage as she had never seen him angry before.

"M-MY FATHER WAS A GOOD MAN!" Merlin trembled with rage. "Unlike your father. You're father killed the innocent rather like you." Morgana smiled and clapped her hands.

"Congratulations, servant. You've managed to get one thing right. My father claimed numerous innocent people's lifes and was a tyrant but the rest, I'm happy to say, it was utter nonsense." Merlin had a dangerous moment of passion and drew out a sword that had been hidden behind his back. He stood up pointing it at Morgana.

"Are you still not wanting to make a truce with Arthur?" Merlin snarled. His eyes narrowed with frustration. He didn't want do this. He couldn't do this. He just couldn't kill her. No, take that back he could. He had killed Agravaine so that meant he could kill Morgana so he put himself on ruthless mood. He lowered his sword and pushed Morgana over. Morgana slammed against the cold stone wall. She had no energy left because she had eaten barely anything in the past few days and it had taken all her strength to ride back to her hovel.

As Gwen would have said, to be threatening he needed to act like a rough tough safe the world kind of person. He might just get there someday when magic was allowed in Camelot. But just now he would just have to pick fights on women who were half his size, had no energy and were fit to collapse. Hastily, the weak woman pulled her dagger out of her boot. Morgana wasn't finished fighting yet. Her will to live was as strong as ever.

"Sword verses dagger," Merlin threatened. "Care to put it to the test."

"I do because it is you that is wielding the sword," Morgana hissed. She was afraid. Was that possible? Out of all the things that had happened today, Merlin had scared her the most. No that couldn't be right. Could it? Perhaps it was just the mere fact that Emrys was supposedly with Merlin. Yes that had to be it. When Morgana had been thinking she had not been watching Merlin's movements as carefully as she have done so her reaction to a sword flying at her was delayed. Morgana kept her eyes open and pierced them into Merlin's she had no time or energy to move so she just stared at Merlin hoping to make him feel guilty as he had done when he had poisoned her.

Crack!

"Owww," Mordred moaned. "Stupid door." He had tried to kick open Morgana's feeble, wooden door but he had kicked his foot right through the wood of the door.

"How can I to be a valiant knight if I get beat by a dilapidated wooden door. Sorry about the mess," groaned Mordred examining the mess of dust, wood shavings and wood fragments. Morgana's door was now off it's hinges and had a rather large hole in it.

"Where was I. Ah yes," Mordred reminded himself. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING MERLIN? PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!" Just realising that the sword that Merlin had thrust at her had stopped in mid air, Morgana moved herself to the right. She had been too immersed in looking at Mordred to notice that the sword had stopped in mid air. Morgana was too baffled to mutter a word of thanks to Mordred so remained struck dumb on the spot.

"Mordred," Merlin groaned. "Why?"

Later Emrys, Mordred telepathically muttered. Though Mordred was almost a head smaller than Merlin, he managed to haul Merlin up and drag him to the broken door of Morgana's hovel.

"I am very sorry to have intruded, my lady," Mordred sincerely apologised. "But I did safe your life, for the second time today, by stopping the sword in mid air." After apologising Mordred hastily left, dragging Merlin along with him. It took Morgana a couple of minutes to think straight and remember that her sister was lying gravely wounded on her likely death bed. Examining her sister thoroughly, Morgana noticed two deadly injuries on her sister as well as at least twenty minor afflictions. Her sister's dress was torn revealing a deep sword wound, filled with ash and grim, across her stomach. Her sister's right arm was charred and blackened. Morgana knew that she was no physician without magic but she had to try to heal her sister- Morgana was indebted to her sister, by a lot.

Morgana remembered using essence of willow over three years ago to heal Morgause. Hastily finding exactly the same bottle as she had used on Morgause ages ago, Morgana uncorked it. She cautiously measured out a spoonful of it and poured it into her sister's throat. Firmly pressing her sister's oesophagus, Morgana helped the willow liquid to slide it's way down her sister's float. Morgana didn't know if the medicine would deteriorate in time but she had no time to find a willow tree or another plant which would provide her with a strong pain killer.

Fetching a bucket of water, Morgana carefully bathed her sister's charred black arm in it. Blacked pieces of skin soon floated around in the water but still her sister's arm was still completely jet black. Morgana decided to make a solution which would hopefully help clear up her sister charred skin.

Finding energy out of nowhere Morgana went straight to get a wooden bowl and a bottle of honey. The honey was fresh as Morgana had got some as soon as she had left the Isle of the Blessed. After all she had not had the luxury of tasting honey in over three years and she knew of the medical properties it had. Honey as well as other herbs had helped Morgana heal Morgause's badly wounded face. Morgana cautiously poured the sticky honey into the wooden bowl. Now she really needed to think about what herbs or plants healed burns. Peppermint. That was one plant that she was pretty sure she had read about it's healing properties with burns and there had been a clump of peppermint thriving behind her hut for years. Morgana had purposely planted the peppermint there because of Morgause having a craving of mint at times. Because the medicine that Morgana gave Morgause tended to be hot and strong tasting, Morgause had liked to eat minty things to cool her mouth down. Morgana also noticed a clump of Daftodi (narcissus) near the peppermint and pulled a couple of the short green stubs of plants right out of the ground. Daftodi roots had been used for hundreds of years for burns and sprains. Taking the peppermint leaves and daftodi inside, Morgana crushed them with her mortar and pestle before getting a bottle of what looked like extremely thick but blended chicken soup. This 'soup' was almond oil blended in with flour and vinegar and according to Morgause it worked wonders on burns and wounds. Morgana mixed some of the 'soup' as well as the crushed daftodi roots and powdery remains of the peppermint. After stirring the mixture with all the strength she could muster, the paste turned a musty yellow colour. She generously applied the ointment to her sister charred arm. Almost falling asleep, Morgana shook herself awake. She still had to tend to the wound across her sister's stomach.

...

Merlin dragged his feet along the ground feeling glum. He wasn't making a very good job at ensuring Mordred wouldn't ally with Morgana. Trying to kill Morgana was defiantly a way to make Mordred even more angry at him. He'd need to be more careful in the future and not have irrational moments of passion. Merlin knew that if he failed to act rationally, Mordred would most likely get frustrated and give up in trying to change Arthur'a opinion in magic. He still didn't know what Mordred's revenge was and even when Mordred said that he wasn't going to hurt any of the people Merlin cared about, Merlin was still concerned.

"Mordred whose side are you on?" Merlin asked, concerned.

"I am on both sides but none," Mordred inquisitively answered staring deeply into Merlin's eyes with great wisdom. It was like Mordred had seen all was to see and had thought everything he had seen through carefully. The look was one that a man of eighty or more might give, defiantly not a person going through manhood would give. It reminded Merlin of the dragon and his riddles. Merlin thought of Mordred and Kilgharrah meeting up and exchanging riddles. The only slight problem with that would be that Kilgharrah might just try and kill Mordred but apart from that it would be better than fine.

"You are neutral to both of them," Merlin interrogated. He really needed to know the truth. After all, Arthur's survival could depend on it.

"No," corrected Mordred. "I am on their side when I want to be and the rest of the time I'm mostly neutral. Now it's my turn to ask you a question, Emrys. What did you think you would achieve out of killing Morgana?"

"I thought it would esure Arthur's safety," Merlin confidently replied. Mordred looked deeply into Merlin's eyes giving Merlin the impression that Mordred really wanted to search him for valuable information.

"There's more to it though?" Mordred inquired. Merlin was defiantly hiding a vital piece of information from him.

"No," Merlin lied. He could barely tell Mordred it was his destiny to ally with Morgana and then kill Arthur. Merlin wished that there was no such thing as seeing into the future or prophecies because they spoiled life. They could often scare you so much that you felt sick, dizzy and unwell. He had experienced this twice and pitied Morgana whom had experienced this more times than she probably cared to remember.

"Do lie to me, Emrys. I will find out this 'secret' even if it's the last thing I do," Mordred hissed. "If you tell me what it is now I won't act rashly."

"It's nothing," Merlin assured him. Giving him a look him a look of utter disbelief, Mordred picked up the couldn't bring himself to tell Mordred the truth so in the future he would have to keep an eye or him. Perhaps both eyes. Mordred must never know the truth until the time was right and by what the dragon had said that time seemed to be alarmingly soon.

With Camelot coming into view, Merlin reassured himself by telling himself if Mordred did change sides then Mordred would have to beat him first before killing Arthur, Gwen and Gaius. The mighty Emrys remained unbeaten for now.

...

Morgana eyes were vacantly shut but she was awake and alert. Twenty four hours ago she had been a terrified reck but now she was plotting to overthrow and kill the king and queen of Camelot as well as the useless servant that had almost succeeded in killing her. Morgana's tangled matt of hair had returned to it's former glossy form and her waves were swept back. She had changed out of her baggy black dress to her black dress with a corset. Her dingy skin had been cleansed and all her minor wounds and bruises had been treated with ointment. All in all she looked fairly healthy unlike her little sister. Morgana had tried her best to clean up her sister so her sister's face looked sweet and pretty except from when her mouth sagged open revealing the ash from the smoke. Her sister's right arm was tightly bandaged but her sister's charred fingers stuck out covered in the musty, hardened ointment that Morgana had applied to it yesterday.

Her little sister stirred silently rousing from her deep sleep. First thing she thought of was how parched and famished she was. Opening her eyes ever so slightly, she didn't recognise the room. The room was dark and dismal so was most likely a dungeon. It took her a while to register the agonising pain on her stomach and in her numb, right arm. Her throat was also bone dry with bits of ash in it. Choking up ash, Morgana's sister could tell that someone was walking towards her. She felt for her sword but she was weaponless and vulnerable so she shifted her body back. Fortunately she realised that the person was Morgana before she started flailing and trying maim the person.

"How are you?" Morgana questioned softly.

Morgana sister was managing to take everything in slowly and she meant to say 'where am I' but instead it came as, "I'm hungry." She wasn't bothered by the pain as she had poisoned herself many a time and had also fractured five ribs all at the same time.

"I shall get dinner ready." Morgana wasn't good at cooking, which was probably why all the food on the Isle of the Blessed tasted horrible but she was improving. Morgana decided to make soup out of honey, peppermint, peas and a rabbit which she had hunted this morning. It would be a very odd tasting soup but Morgana didn't have any other ingredients so she decided to make do. She also decided to mix some honey and warm milk together because it would help soothe her sister's throat. Adding some essence willow to her sister's tankard, she handed it to her. Finally, Morgana's odd tasting soup was out. It didn't taste disgusting it just tasting extremely odd like eating chicken and cake at the same time.

"Who are you?" Morgana asked.

"Your sister according to my mother. What do you want to know about me?"

"As much as you want to tell me," Morgana pressed on impatiently. "What's your name."

"My real name is Morrigan," answered Morgana's sister. "Only three people have ever known that: my mother, you and I. Shall I start from the beginning?" Morgana nodded solemnly. "Well, all the first memories I can recall would be living in the forest with my mother. I never knew my father but my mother told me that he was a dragonlord and he had died before I was born. We were permanently on the move and kept away from villages. We had disguise names for one another. I was called Cate and my mother Mary but my mother's actual name was Vivienne." Morgana's heart skipped a beat here. It looked like Cate was actually her half-sister by mother too.

"She was my mother too," Morgana whispered softly.

"Was your father a dragonlord too?" Morrigan asked eagerly.

"No," Morgana hissed. "My father was an evil tyrant. He killed the innocent. If you possessed magic than he would execute you no matter how innocent you were. He killed children and adults alike. He was a monster and he was King Uther Pendragon of Camelot but he's dead now. That was my half-brother, Arthur Pendragon whom you saw sentencing me to death. I was disgraced of anyone whom had a drop of Pendragon blood so it was quite a shock to myself when I discovered that I was half Pendragon."

"What?" Morrigan yelled, bewildered.

"Tell me your story first?" Morgana ordered.

"Where was I. So me and my mother never told anyone our real names. It was a rare occurrence for us to even talk to someone though. My early childhood years were very solitary and lonely. I seemed to spend them all with Midnight. Midnight was a calm pony whom carried our supplies everywhere, not that we had much, but he was good company. My mother always seemed to be distant and lost in thought. She didn't really give me the attention I needed other than to give into trouble which ups why at a young age I was always getting into trouble to try and get attention. Do not get me wrong; she made sure I was healthy but she didn't really seem to love me that much. I always got the impression that she was disappointed that she had me as a child and had wished for another one. My mother teaching me magic was the only other way that I could get attention from. By the age of six or seven my mother was suffering from so severe emotional upheaval that I took. I gathered and hunted the food that we ate. I managed to poison myself a great number of times when I was young but eventually I managed to work out what was good to eat and what was not. When I was nine, nearly ten, we were robbed by bandits and my mother was severely wounded. She was too weak to heal her wound and my magic was too feeble to heal it. In her dying breaths she told me to go to Camelot where I would find my sister, whom was called Morgana."

"It took you three years to get here," Morgana asked, impressed. Some determination Morrigan had if it took her three years to get here.

"No, more about ten months. A nobleman discovered me with my dying mother while he was out. When he my mother's seal of nobility, he took me back to his mansion for supper because he wanted to know my story. I wasn't too distressed because I had not properly loved my mother because me mother merely liked me, nothing more. The nobleman's sister thought I was sweet and cute and begged her brother to let me stay. She did not love me either but I fully understand that and am still eternally grateful for the help she offered. Perhaps I am not worthy of love or am just not a loveable person. When I was twelve, I grew extremely bored of hiding away my magic so decided to tack up a horse and search for you. It took me ten months of eating disgusting things that I had cooked badly but I fortunately didn't poison myself. Finally, I found you and that probably sums up my life simply," Morrigan finished sadly. Morrigan had never been loved by anyone but had still held her head high and carried on as best as she could. She could never remember feeling extremely elated. She had felt jealously when she had seen other children hugging their mother, father or siblings. Isolation had been hard but she like Morgana had a strong will to live. Morrigan could see the similarities between them already.

...

Morgana sighed deeply thinking of magic as she bathed an asleep Morrigan's arm in water. Morgana was impressed at her own skills as she managed to get all of the charred skin off to reveal the second redder layer off skin. No blood or anything. Morrigan's wound across her stomach was a different matter. A day and half old it was already beginning to fill with pus and a fever was beginning to break out in Morrigan so Morgana had managed to sedate Morrigan to keep her peaceful until Morgana's magic returned. Morrigan was doing a good job of pretending not to feel the pain but even then was she to weak to use her own magic to heal herself.

Feeling time tick had been a frustrating feeling for Morgana. She knew that everyday Camelot grew in strength. She was really desperate act against Camelot now. Looking at the pendant that she wore, Morgana knew that she needed Aithusa but she wouldn't be able to summon Aithusa because of her magic still not returning to her. Morgana closed her eyes trying to let go of her frustration but it didn't work and just made Morgana feel more frustrated.

Flap! Flap!

Was that just her imaging Aithusa or was it reality. Morgana grabbed the sword that Merlin had kindly left behind the other day and ran outside to find the white dragon awaiting her presence.

"How did you know that I was waiting for you when my magic has been drained from me?" Morgana shouted.

"A seer told me that you would be in great need of me tonight so I came to your hovel to look for you," Aithusa truthfully replied.

"My sister is in great need of medical care beyond my knowledge. Could you give it to her?"

"Of course, priestess. Open up the window," Aithusa commanded. Morgana obediently opened the window to let Aithusa breath magic over her. "She'll be dormant for a few hours but she should recover. Can I be of any other assistance?"

"You said that dochraid wanted to see me when you saved me. Why?" Morgana inquisitively interrogated.

"She said that she could help you kill Arthur Pendragon," Aithusa gently rumbled.

"Can you take me to see her?" Morgana pleaded.

"Of course," Aithusa agreed bending down. Morgana enthusiastically climbed onto her back and in a split second they were flying over mountain tops.

...

"Hello?" Morgana questioned as she entered a cave. Suddenly a hand grabbed Morgana's arm. A horrible looking creature sniffed her arm.

"Ah, so we meet again Morgana Pendragon," the Dochraid hoarsely boomed.

"The young dragon, Aithusa, told me that you requested my presence," stated Morgana.

"Ah, yes I do. I have advice to give you on how to destroy Arthur Pendragon."

"Tell me," Morgana inquired.

"I will in return for your healing bracelet," charmed the greedy Dorchraid. Morgana doubtfully looked at her bracelet before handing it to the Dochraid. If this information proved useful then the endless nightmares she would have to endure would be worth it.

"I shall expect it back if your information is not helpful," Morgana threatened.

"You must find Arthur's bane. To do this you must find the seers that hide away from Arthur. They will find Arthur's bane for you once you tell them that you are a fellow." Morgana felt more elated then she had done in years. The seers were her kin so she was convinced that they would help her.

"Thank you," Morgana said silkily. "You have proved most helpful." She was going to find the 'spoilers' that would help her get on the right route for Arthur to meet his death. Revenge at last!

**Thank you very much for reading guys I really appreciate it. Please review too! I have a hopefully epic plan for the next few chapters including Dragon battles and Merlin and Morgana battles.**


	18. The Mysterious Disappearances

** TJTMaira- Thank you so much but I'm still debating it.**

** Autumn Moon Fae- Sounds good. Next chapter for Merlin and Morgana showdown.**

** JuniorWoofles- Dragon battle coming up**.

Aithusa impatiently waited for her mistress to return. She had places to be, things to learn and discover. Life was just too exciting for a young dragon. Her magic still had not properly developed yet but she was showing she had a flair for healing magic. Although she had been all over the country, she had remained away from most people from the exception of Morgana, Merlin and the seers as she knew that they would not tell anyone about her existence. On the negative side, rumours were spreading quickly around King Gremian's kingdom about the 'witch' escaping on 'the mythical dragon'. Some people thought of this idea being ridiculous and instantly dismissed it but the wiser people grew worried about the witch. The appearance of the giant had frightened everyone and they had no doubt that the witch was behind. They were wrong. In fact the people of Gremian's kingdom were terrified of the 'insane witch' then they were of their barbaric king who would leave them to perish in a cell if they forgot to pay their taxes or even if they were heard complaining about the laws or insulting King Gremian and his knights. Kilgharrah had warned Aithusa not to let anyone see her apart from trusted people like the seers and Merlin.

"Aithusa, I have not seen you in a while," Kilgharrah roared landing next to Aithusa. Jumping around like a guilty child, Aithusa was horrified by the sight of Kilgharrah. Kilgharrah had warned her about Morgana and a boy called Mordred. He had told her to keep away from them unless she wanted to kill them which wasn't wise. Poor Aithusa had not understood why Morgana so hated because she seemed so innocent and vulnerable to Aithusa. Morgana had not done anything wrong except from trying to kill people who tried to kill her. That was fair. If they were trying to kill her than why could she not kill them.

"What are you doing?" Kilgharrah sternly interrogated. "You look like you are up to no good." Blinking innocently, Aithusa stared at Kilgharrah pretending to look puzzled.

"Why do you say that? I have just been for a pleasant visit to see the dochraid," Aithusa boomed, praying for Kilgharrah to go away. She needed to communicate with Morgana but she could feel the broken connection as Morgana's magic had been drained from her.

"You haven't happened to have seen anyone called Morrigan have you?" Aithusa's heart skipped a beat. Morgana had mentioned her sister being called Morrigan when she had been flown over here. Should she tell Kilgharrah? Better not risk it, Aithusa decided not wanting to upset Morgana.

"No," Aithusa unconvincingly replied.

"You don't sound sure," Kilgharrah snarled.

"I think I might of actually heard the name before. Morgana. Didn't you tell me to keep away from her," Aithusa innocently announced. Pretending to have misheard Kilgharrah was the easiest way out of this complicated situation. Her lying skills were letting her down dramatically.

"Morrigan not Mor-" Kilgharrah cut himself off before menacingly growling, "Talk of the devil."

"Aithusa," Morgana beamed, elated. "The dochr-" Morgana stopped horrified to see another dragon beside Aithusa. This had to be the dragon that Emrys commanded.

"AITHUSA!" Kilgharrah thundered. Kilgharrah was actually surprised at how human Morgana was. She had been grinning ear to ear when she had came out of the cave and her smile had only faltered when she had caught sight of him.

"MORGANA, RUN!" Aithusa warned. Morgana took off right away. Without magic and with only useless sword, which a dragon could demolish in a split second, she was defenceless.

...

"MERLIN" Arthur screamed impatiently for the third time. Merlin stood with one arm wrapped around Arthur's bed post and his head leaning on the post too. His eyes were unfocused and he seemed to be distant; in a dream. "MERLIN!"

"Yes, sire. Do you want your supper?" Merlin murmured still in a dream.

"I've already had my supper, dollophead," Arthur teased. Arthur frowned. There was defiantly something wrong with Merlin as he wasn't even reacting to Arthur using his own words. He had seemed rather distant the whole day but Arthur had just assumed that Merlin had been angry with him for yelling at him the day before. "Dollop head. Gwen is dead," Arthur invented trying to catch Merlin's attention. "Poetry, Gwaine would approve. Gaius is a traitor. Taverns. Mead. Wine. Cider. I am dead. Your are in hell. You are evil. I hate you. Elyan is a half wit cabbage head. Gwaine is sane. Mordred is something that a troll likes to eat. Leon eats dandruff. Percival is tiny and now this is getting extreme. You are a rose. You love Morgana."

"WHAT!" Merlin yelled. Arthur had finally managed to gain his attention.

"All I heard was that Leon eats dandruff and someone loves Morgana," Gwaine laughed walking through Arthur's a jar door. "That person wasn't me was it?"

"No. What are you doing Merlin?" questioned Arthur. Merlin looked at Arthur's bedpost shocked that he was leaning against it.

"Wood worm," Merlin sighed. He had no better answer.

"This is first and last time I will say it but I am sorry," apologised Arthur. He stared deep into Merlin's eyes with a winning look. Merlin just frowned and half shot daggers at Arthur. "Gwaine take Merlin back to his chambers and entertain him." Frowning, Gwaine led Merlin out of Arthur's chambers.

Arthur sighed deeply. Now he had another problem to cope with. First of all it had been the mysterious escape of his sister which had caused some citizens of Camelot to riot. The vast majority of people in Camelot knew that Arthur was too fair a king to riot and make trouble but you always got a few dodgy people in every town and city which you went to. Next it was fur news of King Gremian amassing a army which had caused Arthur great distress. It was at least five times the size of all of the soldiers of Camelot and the handful of King Stewart's loyal soldiers which had fled to Camelot when Callolith had been attacked. Now he had Merlin to worry about and Morgana. Who knew what evil plots his half-sister would be planning for Camelot.

...

Morgana's heart pounded against her chest as her feet thudded against the uneven forest floor. The daunting sight of Kilgharrah breathing fire right at her had startled Morgana and sent her on her way. After sprinting as fast as she could for five minutes, Morgana was exhausted and collapsed on the hard terrain, breathless. She could see her warm breath billowing out of her mouth into the freezing atmosphere. In Camelot the temperature had been quite steady all year round and snow came once a year at the most but the further north you got the colder it became and unfortunately for Morgana late winter was not a good time to be stuck outside in the freezing cold without magic. Pulling herself up off the crisp ground, Morgana started fleeing to keep her temperature up until she found somewhere warm to rest. Being kept in dungeons twice within the last couple of months had weakened her greatly so her stamina level was low. Morgana made her way through the pitch black forest stumbling over a couple of tree roots whilst battling against the raging winds. Soon the rain began to cascade down soaking Morgana and chilling her chest. A thin cloak and dress was defiantly not enough to protect the witch from the harsh winter weather.

Suddenly, Morgana noticed a flickering light away in the distance. Knowing that light meant fire and fire meant warmth, Morgana picked up her pace and headed towards the light. When Morgana managed to get close to building, she peered inside to find it full of sheep with a few cows and a horse but a small boy was snugly wrapped in a fur blanket beside the fire. Morgana quietly sneaked past him to a pile of fur blankets and took one. She could have easily beat the boy in a fight as he looked no older than twelve years old but she retreated to the other end of the barn away from the boy and warmth of the fire. There Morgana jumped onto a hay stack and wriggled her way into the middle of the stack with the fur blanket still clenched in her hands. Wrapping the blanket round herself, Morgana congratulated herself of thinking of this ingenious idea. It was impossible for anyone to spot her unless they shifted the hay and she was warm and comfortable. Falling asleep wasn't a problem but when she woke up she found herself in a rather difficult position

"Not again," Morgana murmured.

...

"TRAITOR!" Kilgharrah roared. Aithusa wanted to flee like Morgana did but she had more of nerve. " YOU ARE MY KIN AND YOU BETRAY ME!" Kilgharrah roared with fury before swiping at Aithusa with one of his large claws. Aithusa adeptly dodged it and took off into the air. She was not going to be able to out fly or defend herself from another dragon which was double her size so she began to look for a cave which she could fit into but not Kilgharrah. Drawing alarmingly close to Aithusa, Kilgharrah snapped menacingly at Aithusa's tail. Aithusa jolted to the right trying to trick Kilgharrah but Kilgharrah got the better of her and grabbed the younger dragon by the scruff of her neck. Dragging Aithusa back to earth, Kilgharrah jaws made blood seethe out of the ridge of her neck. Aithusa winced but lunged at Kilgharrah with her razor sharp claws lacerating Kilgharrah's back. Crashing to the ground Aithusa gave up struggling and let Kilgharrah swipe at her a couple of times. He would not kill another dragon especially when the other dragon was a young one and the only other dragon in existence.

"IF YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN THEN I SHALL KILL YOU!" Kilgharrah snarled spraying Aithusa with her own blood. Aithusa did not retaliate but instead whimpered a bit. Taking off into the air, Kilgharrah gave Aithusa a deadly look.

Once she was alone, Aithusa used a complex spell to heal her wounds. She did have a knack for those sort of spells. Then she set off to do what Kilgharrah had forbidden her to do- Aithusa was going to find Morgana. Whether it meant life or death, Aithusa would serve Morgana.

...

Gaius looked worriedly from Gwaine to Merlin. It had been a few minutes since Gwaine and a depressed Merlin had entered Gaius's chambers. Both Gwaine and Gaius had tried to talk to Merlin though Merlin had just ignored them.

"Merlin," Gaius said frustrated. "Does this have anything to do with Morgana." Once again Merlin did not reply. A moment of passion had almost made him kill someone he hated but Mordred had interfered and Merlin had given in. After all, Merlin did not want Mordred to kill Arthur and needed to gain Mordred's trust. He had almost began to think that he had gained Mordred's trust when Mordred had walked in when he had tried to kill Morgana. Alas, Merlin was back to stage one of gaining Mordred's trust.

_Meeeerrrrlllliiiinnnn_, a telepathic voice said.

_Kilgharrah is that you_? Merlin alertly replied.

_Yes it is, young warlock. I have a quest for you that may take under an hour but pack as you may be away for a few days. Met me in the usual clearing in half an hour. Arthur's life could be in mortal danger._

_Alright_

"I am going away for a few days on a quest," Merlin decidedly said, making Gwaine and Gaius jump. Merlin headed up to his chambers grabbed a handful of spare clothes and a few blankets.

"Merlin. What is this quest?" Gaius implored.

"I don't know but it will probably decide whether Arthur lives or dies." Gaius hastily handed Merlin a cloak which Merlin wrapped around himself and then embraced him quickly.

"I'm coming with you," Gwaine announced but Merlin shook his head and Gwaine dejectedly stepped back.

"What should I tell Arthur if he asks where you are going?" Gaius asked.

"Say I'm in Ealdor or something. Tell him I'm anywhere but the tavern," Merlin ordered before sprinting out of the door into the distance.

"I've got a brilliant idea," Gwaine rejoiced. "Tell Arthur that both Merlin and I are at the tavern." Gwaine jogged towards the door

"Where are you going," Gaius questioned.

"I'm going after Merlin," Gwaine replied.

"Good luck." Gwaine merely nodded his head before darting out of the castle to get a horse and ride after Merlin.

...

Odd, Gwen thought. She had seen Merlin ride out a couple of minutes ago and now Gwaine was riding out. Something was going on. Elvina had bid her good night an hour ago so Gwen knew that she would not be missed until the morning. Slipping out of night gown into her riding outfit, she decided to go out to see what was going on. As Gwen put her cloak on, she decided to make a detour to the armoury to get a sword just in case she got attacked. If she could not find where Merlin and Gwaine had gone then she could just go for a ride on her gentle mare. She missed the freedom of just being a common person and this sounded like a great adventure to her. Grabbing a sword, she bounded to the stables to tack up her pearly white mare. Her mare looked slightly annoyed to have been woken up and tacked up with such haste but the mare only gave a soft whinny in surprise.

"Hush now girl," Gwen soothingly whispered. "We don't anyone to think that we are up to no good."

Clip, clop, clip clop. Gwen's mare pricked up her ears so Gwen firmly held the reins and peered out the stable door. There was a cloaked figure on a midnight black horse. As they galloped out of the courtyard, the figures hood fell down to reveal the figure's face. It was Mordred. Gwen quickly mounted her calm mare before nudging her heels into the mare's side and pressing the horse on. They took off at a pretty fast pace so that Gwen could just see Mordred in the distance. Gwen did not catch up with Mordred but stayed slightly behind. This her mystery and she would soon be able to see who was in trouble and who was up to no good.

...

The small boy was staring at her with a glinting sword in his hand. It was still night but Morgana could tell that it nearing dawn. Perhaps an hour or two until daylight came upon her.

"I know who you are," the boy muttered nervously. "You are the witch. You are Morgana Pendragon."

"Yet, you point a sword at me. Magic beats blades. Surely you know that," Morgana taunted. The boy's sword trembled but he looked fiercely at her.

"If I hand you to King I'll get ten thousand gold pieces so I'll never have to the in poverty," the boy said cheerfully. Morgana edged further away from the boy and beside the raging bull who was kicking and straining. "There are King Gremian's soldiers outside coming for you and then I will get my money." A sharp rap on the barn door woke Morgana up. She was weaponless but a great plan suddenly came to her brain.

"She's here," the boy yelled turning his head away from Morgana for a split in this split second. In this split second Morgana undid the tight knot in which the coarse rope tethered the raging bull to.

"Get the witch," a soldier ordered.

"I do not think so," Morgana hissed flinging herself upon the vicious bull. Slapping it's back Morgana held on tight and they set off at fast pace. The bull thrashed out and kicked at several soldiers while Morgana dodged all the weapons that were being shot or swiped at her by King Gremian's soldiers.

"Take down the beast but keep the witch alive," shouted a soldier. A soldier managed to stab a sword in the bull's side making the the bull unleash more fury. The bull knew it was game up time and decided to flee. Hastily finding the door of the building, the bull rampaged out of it. Fleeing down the field several soldiers which were still unscathed chased after the witch and the untameable beast which was rearing and trying to fling Morgana off. Riding a bull was no different from riding a wild horse which you had no control of. Morgana gasped the bull was heading for a marshy ditch which had a layer of paper thin ice.

_Morgana, shut your eyes and stay still_, ordered a telepathic voice. Instantly Morgana obeyed and shut her eyes.

_Let go. Let GO! LET GO!_ Come on. Morgana you trust me. Morgana eventually let go off the bull's rump and found herself being carried into the distance. It took her to seconds to open her eyes and find it was Aithusa.

"Aithusa? Where are you taking me?" Morgana wondered aloud.

"Back home and then I must go somewhere else so that Kilgharrah does not suspect me of consorting with you. You must set out to find the seers right this instant to get there before Emrys," Aithusa commanded.

"Emrys knows?"

"Yes. Kilgharrah, the big red dragon, went and asked the Dochraid what you were doing there and then he went and told Emrys. Aithusa landed softly and placed Morgana before soaring, with great haste, into the midnight sky to confront Kilgharrah. Morgana burst into her hovel finding Morrigan making some food.

"Where have you been Morgana," Morgana worriedly said. "There is food if you want it. It tastes horrible but none of the plants I used are poisonous because I've tasted. I sup-"

"Morrigan, I do not care," Morgana snarled fastening her cloak. "My future depends on this. I may not be back for a few days but you know how to survive but do not follow me as it could result in your death." With this Morgana swished her cloak and went into the wilderness

'Do not follow me,' whenever anyone says that why do I have to follow them, thought Morrigan.

'Borrowing' one of Morgana's cloaks, Morrigan set off after Morgana. Morrigan found herself at a farm wondering what business Morgana had there. When Morgana emerged from a barn with a half tacked up horse (bridal on the horse but not saddle), Morrigan realised that she had only walked here to loot a horse. Setting into the barn, Morrigan selected a chestnut excited filly as the other two horses weren't built for sprinting. Unlike Morgana, Morrigan made sure that she tacked up the filly properly as she wasn't that confident at riding horses. Morrigan could still see Morgana at the other side of the field warming up her horse but Morrigan decided to risk it and not warm up her horse- she would not have the time. Kicking her heels into the filly's sides, Morrigan set off into the edge of the forest after Morgana.

...

Meanwhile, when Gwen had been getting ready to ride out and Morgana had escaped on a mere bull, Merlin had met up with the dragon. The Great Dragon had told him that Morgana was going to ask the seers, how Arthur was going to die. Therefore he had galloped into the distance making Gwaine find it hard to keep up with him. Gwaine had just been able to keep up with Merlin and had just been able to catch him when Merlin had stopped to let his have a little rest. Allowing Gwaine to come on his quest, Merlin and Gwaine had continued to gallop on not realising that Mordred or Gwen were following them. It was early morning by the time Merlin and Gwaine had arrived at the cave where the seers were said to stay.

"We made it without even getting lost," gasped Gwaine in surprise. "I never knew that you could read maps."

"You are a clotpole then," Merlin retaliated. "Two horses tethered outside the cave can only mean one thing. It means that Morgana and her sister have got here before us. Remind me to ask you a question later Gwaine." Gwaine and Merlin both quickly dismounted their horses and headed into the cave.

Mordred who had been hiding behind the trees had been watching Merlin and Gwaine intently. He clicked his tongue and urged his horse onwards to the entrance of the cave before dismounting it and turning around.

"Gwen, I know you are here," Mordred said coolly. Guinevere knew that there was no point of hiding and trotted out of the trees on her mare. "Do not come in. Morgana is in there and so are other magical users."

"Then what are Merlin and Gwaine hoping to achieve since they both went in there?" Gwen asked dismounting her horse.

"You underestimate them," Mordred laughed before entering the cave. "Ride back to Camelot, Gwen. The wilderness is no place for a queen." Gwen rubbed her mare's ears for a couple of minutes before willing herself to go in. There had to be something else as well as Morgana being there for Merlin, Gwaine and Mordred not to call up the army of Camelot. As she headed towards the cave her tethered horse shook her silvery mane and snorted.

"But go I must," Gwen softly whispered striding into her cave.

If Gwen knew what was going to happen she would not have entered that cave of doom.

...

"Merlin. MerLIN! MERLIN!" Arthur screamed in fury. He needed that half wit servant of his to make his breakfast and do whatever else needed doing. A soft knocking sound came from the door. Arthur gave an exasperated sigh expecting it to be Merlin apologising for his lateness though it was quite unlike him to knock.

"Enter," Arthur commanded. Elvina nervously opened the door shocked to see Arthur still in his bed.

"I'm sorry, sire but have you seen Queen Guinevere this morning," Elvina quietly stammered

"No," Arthur shortly replied. "Have you seen Merlin."

"I can't say I have, sire. It is nearly noon though and I have been up for five hours and have not seen, her majesty."

"NOON? When I see that servant of mine, he shall be in severe trouble and in the stocks," Arthur furiously mumbled. "Elvina, could you please ask anyone if they have seen the queen this morning. Try the knights first."

There came another rap at Arthur's door.

"ENTER!" Arthur shouted, unsuccessfully hiding his anger. Sir Leon strode in the ajar door beside Elvina.

"Forgive me, my lord, but I could not help hearing that Gwen has vanished. I'd also like to report that Sir Gwaine and Sir Mordred are missing too," Sir Leon announced.

"That makes Merlin, Gwaine, Mordred and Guinevere all missing in the same morning. Rather mysterious don't you think. Get a squadron of guards to ask people in Camelot whether they have seen any of these people today," Arthur ordered. "And, Elvina, tell a certain servant called George that he can be my temporary manservant." Both Sir Leon and Elvina muttered, 'My Lord' and simultaneously bowed their heads before leaving Arthur alone.

Arthur closed his eyes in desperation. Now he had another problem to add to his list. Three of his good friends had mysteriously vanished. But worst of all so had his wife- Gwen

**Name for Gwen's horse competition. I'm bored of calling it 'mare' so I need a feminine name for it. Remember it is pure white. Either leave me the name in a review or pm me. I will choose the best one to use it in the next chapter. Thanks for reading! Review**!


	19. Merlin is Emrys?

**TJTMaria- Massive major meet up end of this chapter though Morrigan somewhat vanishes.**

**Junior Woofles- Not going to steal off of Dr Who**

**Autumn Moon Fae- Gwen is in this chapter quite a bit.**

King Gremian slouched in his stone grey throne with Alexander standing by his side. There was a rough knock that echoed into the distance.

"COME IN!" bellowed King Gremian. A short man stumbled in bracing himself for the murderous and low shouting that King Gremian would give, once he knew the news.

"M-My Lord, the soldiers have returned," the short man mumbled.

"And," King Gremian roared. "A scout told me that the witch had been found."

"Yes indeed. Will I go and get the soldiers who saw her. Five of them are severely wounded, eight of them have minor injuries and six of them remain unscathed," the man stuttered.

"DO!" King Gremian barked. Alexander uncomfortably shifted his standing position ever so slightly as he knew what would happen to the soldiers if they had not managed to capture the witch. Fourteen disheartened soldiers trudged into the throne room.

"What happened?" Alexander softly asked. No one spoke for a split second as all the soldiers were afraid of King Gremian.

"The witch escaped from our grasp," a brave soldier muttered.

"HOW DID SHE MANAGE TO ESCAPE!" yelled King Gremian thundering over to the soldier and clasping his neck.

"S-She e-escaped on a b-b-bull," the soldier gasped, panting for breath. King Gremian's face turned crimson with anger making his face look like an oversized, withered plum.

"DID SHE USE HER MAGIC OR EVEN WIELD STEAL?"

"No, my lord," gulped the guard.

"SO SHE JUST ESCAPED ON A MERE COW THAT WASN'T EVEN A BATTLE HARDENED HORSE!" King Gremian's voice shook with rage. Throwing the soldier against the wall, the soldier quickly stood up massaging his throat. None of the other soldiers had spoken a word. They looked as if they had been struck immobile.

"Make sure the soldiers who failed in capturing the witch are all killed by the time I get back," King Gremian grunted in Alexander's ear.

"Yes, father," Alexander shamefully replied.

As King Gremian stomped out the room, he thought off what a nuisance the Pendragon's were to him. By the end of the year they all would be dead and Camelot his. He knew that they had tried to fool him but he was not that stupid- or so he thought. He knew that the witch, whatever she was called (King Gremian didn't even know Morgana's name) was in love with stupid knight who thought he was incredibly hilarious. He also knew that her and Arthur liked each other as brother and sister. Now he needed to amass an army to conquer Camelot and rid the world of the Pendragon's and their lovers.

...

Inside the cave was a chamber lit up by several flaming torches. She went over to one of the flaming torches and tried to grab the torch but unfortunately Gwen fumbled with the torch. Dropping the torch, the flame had went right through Gwen's hand. Gwen did not gasp in the slightest or show any signs of injuring her hand.

Odd, thought Gwen. She had burnt herself once before and jumped a mile back shaking her hand furiously before sticking her wounded hand in a bucket of water. This time though she hadn't felt any pain and her hand. Tenderly touching the hand which had gone through the flame, Gwen did not feel any pain. The torch was lying on the floor but the flame was not spreading. Gwen stupidly stuck her foot through the flame knowing that it was a stupid thing to door. It was very queer not for her boot to fire or for her hand not to be sore when she had stuck them both through a flame. Then it clicked. It was magic.

The room was round having no doors or passages from it. She was in shock because she did not know where they had all disappeared. Finally Gwen was able to crack the problem when she saw a circle in the middle off the floor decorated with runes. Lifting it up, Gwen threw her torch in. Gwen couldn't exactly see how far down it was but if she had to estimate how big a drop it was she would have estimated that it would be about the same size as the drop off of Camelot castle's highest floor. This appeared to be the only way out and Gwen could not see dead corpses in the hole. Knowing it was a horrendously stupid thing to do, Gwen sat down with her feet dangling down the hole and pushed herself off the edge. With her eyes tightly shut, Gwen felt herself falling and slowing down before her feet gently touched the ground. Not expecting to land so gently, Gwen tumbled over onto the ground.

Drip, drop, drip drop. Dirty water dripped from the earthy walls. It smelt of a mixture of damp earth and rotten wood making Gwen wrinkle her nose in disgust. There were four tunnels leading off the one that she landed so Gwen picked up her torch and searched the ground for footprints. She found three sets of footprints leading to the tunnel on her direct left so decided to take that route. What over choice did she have? She could barely go back up to the top floor. Taking that tunnel, she saw several over tunnels off that. It was like an underground maze. One thing that surprised Gwen was the good air ventilation but the tunnels were so small that she doubted Merlin could walk through them without bending down.

Left, right, left, left. Gwen began to make her way deeper through the tunnels. There were trick steps hidden in the dirt, dead ends and sudden drops which led her deeper underground. There was no sign of anyone or any other living organism. No plants. No animals. Not even a mere rat which would thrive in these conditions.

Right, dead end, left, right, right. Gwen, exhausted and starving, began to zone out into a dream but her feet kept on moving. She did not come back into reality until strode straight into something. Not something, someone. Someone who she had condemned to death. Someone who loathed her. Someone who she didn't wish to hurt. The choice was simple either she had to die or commit murder.

...

Mordred panted but smiled at his success. He had not had this fun in ages. Never having been through a maze before, Mordred wondered if he would be the last to reach the seers as he was sure that he would not be the first. It had taken Mordred a split second to realise that a cave was like huge puzzle. The runes on the trapdoor had also helped him find his way. As a boy he had been given a book on ancient magical runes by his father and memorised them all. It had came in use quite a number times. The runes on the trap door had been a riddle to Mordred delight and it only taken him a couple of minutes to solve.

'I am a killer but also a saviour.

When most people see me they don't care about me.

Others can spend days looking for me.

I can take three different forms.

I can travel the world without any aid from humans or animals.

When I am cold I can be helpful.

When hot I can be dangerous.'

Mordred just liked riddles too much and was extraordinarily good at solving them. Opening the door, Mordred awkwardly strolled in to find three people watching him very closely as if they knew that he was going to enter the room at that precise moment.

"You are Mordred," a seer's ghostly voice announced softly. "Your future has been written about since before the dawn of time." Mordred closed his eyes for a second to think deeply.

"You've seen into my future?" Mordred asked, smiling eerily. The smile hastily vanished as the hooded seer came closer to him. Mordred was able to see that this seer was an elderly man despite his young mobility. The room was so dimly lit that Mordred had not been able to tell whether the person was male or female at a distance.

"Yes I have. You shall not find out the nature of your future, yet. Nigh is the time for you to flee out of this place and back to Camelot." Frowning, Mordred pondered over why the seer wanted him to leave but could not come up with a conclusion

"Why should I flee? I need to stop Emrys and Morgana from killing each other," Mordred protested.

"Nor Emrys's or Morgan l- Morgana's end is nigh. You need to ride back to Camelot urgently because you shall intrude on something important." The seer's eyes locked with Mordred's aqua eyes and they made an silent agreement. "Trust me, Mordred. Their destinies are too great for either of them to die yet. This quest was only meant for Morgana, Morrigan and Emrys. Gwaine and the young Pendragon queen shall not be able to succeed in the quest either. They shall abandon it half way through due to injury." Mordred gave a little nod and began to ascend the ladder that all three seers pointed to. He badly wanted to find out what he would confront on his way back to Camelot.

...

Arthur marched straight into Gaius's chambers feeling sick with worry. Gaius turned quickly round to face the distressed King.

"If this is abou-" Gaius began.

"Gwen, Merlin, Mordred and Gwaine have all gone missing. Do you know where any of them are?" Arthur injected.

"Merlin and Gwaine went to the tavern last night. I think they had plans of traveling to Ealdor straight after. As for Gwen and Mordred, I have no idea where any of them are." Arthur kicked the wall in frustration as he willed his anger to abate. For him it was just one thing after another and each time the thing got increasingly worse. Gaius inquisitively raised an eyebrow instead of inquiring what had happened.

Suddenly, shy Elvina burst into Gaius's chambers looking angered.

"I am sorry to intrude, my lord, but the guard who was guarding the gate last night seems to have been drugged," Elvina worriedly snapped. "And a man from King Gremian's kingdom commands an audience with you urgently." Arthur nodded his head as he knew that his words would be trembling with stress, rage and worry if he tried to speak. It took him no less than thirty seconds to be certain that he could speak normally without a trace of anger.

"Do not worry," Arthur reassured Elvina. "We shall find Guinevere in no time." Arthur said this a lot more confidently the he felt as he was certain that it would be complicated to find Gwen. He patted Elvina on the back before heading straight for the council chambers which was completely deserted with the exception of George waiting efficiently by Arthur's throne. Glumly trudging towards his throne, Arthur sighed, stressfully. He needed to hear something hilarious to lighten his mood and unfortunately he was stuck in a room with George.

"Tell me a joke, George," Arthur ordered, impatiently waiting for the court to arrive.

"I like to thrash brass with glass and grass," George said without managing to get his tongue twisted. He gave a nervous but cut it off because of the exasperated look on Arthur's face told him that it was not funny.

"A joke that does not involve brass and a joke that is actually funny," Arthur said rolling his eyes.

"Why is spring cleaning called spring cleaning?" Arthur shook his head with exasperation.

"Because it is done in the spring," answered Arthur cooly.

"How did you know the answer," questioned George, bewildered.

"Because I am a genius," Arthur laughed. George was to stupid for his liking but that stupidity had managed to make him laugh. "Tell me another one."

"Did you hear about Camelot's latest tragedy. A two seater carriage upturned in a cemetery. They have found more than a thousand bodies and are still digging them up," George chuckled. Arthur could not stop himself and burst into hysterics losing the kingly act completely.

"Breathe, sire," warned George. The door suddenly opened and Arthur just managed to calm himself though he had nearly lost it completely. All the court took their places and Arthur tried to ignore Gwen's absence, though there was a sinking feeling in his stomach. Once everyone had taken their places and the movement, commotion and whispers had ceased. A man strode to the middle of the room with his head bowed towards the ground.

"I bring you devastating news, my lord," the scout calmly announced. The scout did not look devastated in the slightest but he did risk his life everyday spying on King Gremian and living in his kingdom. "King Gremian is amassing an army to try and ambush you." Arthur felt like he wanted to run away but he knew he could not. He would be indirectly killing thousands of people if he did run away as Gremian would terrorise the kingdom and slay or enslave most of the inhabitants. He would not abandon his people even if it meant going to his death.

"We need to garrison more troops," Arthur ordered. "King Gremian's army is huge."

"And I shall go and see if I can find troops that are still loyal to my father and I," added Princess Mithian."We shall help you in this everlasting war between you and the Saxons as it is the least we can do to repay for your kindness and hospitality." Arthur slowly stood up completely emotionally exhausted.

"King Gremian is barbaric and has a brain that does not think about things. We shall beat him because our soldiers are better trained and we have better tactics," Arthur determinedly said. He strode out the room with one thing on his mind. Arthur did not care about the Saxons he was worried about Gwen.

...

"It's not that funny, Gwaine," Merlin said trying not to burst out laughing. Gwaine was bending down in hysterics and had basically lost it. All the seriousness of the situation had mysteriously vanished. "I only used my magic to make the guard of Camelot at the gate fall asleep. True he could be sleeping for weeks because it kind of went wrong." Gwaine collapsed at this completely losing it.

"A-A-And I d-drew a m-m-moustache on h-his f-f-face and s-stuck an a-a-a-apple in his mouth," Gwaine chortled, crying with laughter. Having his quiet five minutes a little while, Merlin had known what was coming next- Gwaine's, at least half an hour of super hyper chaos chatted and laughter. Merlin looked at Gwaine disapprovingly making Gwaine snap back into his serious self. After all it could be a life or death situation.

"Keep calm and listen for footsteps," Merlin authorised. "Remember Morgana and Cate- her nameless sister are both here." Gwaine merely nodded his head and guiltily stood up without uttering another word.

Clash, clang, clash. Merlin closed his eyes. It sounded like sword fighting but he could not think who it could be fighting. He extremely doubted that Morgana and her sister would fight with the seers- especially with swords. Someone could have followed him and Gwaine here but he highly doubted that too as he had checked behind himself a few times just to make sure that they weren't being followed.

CRUNCH! Gwaine took a huge bite into an apple making Merlin jump around in fright.

"Shhh... Listen," Merlin commanded, shooting daggers at Gwaine. Gwaine apologetically looked at Merlin before listening intently for two seconds. After that he fell into dream about feasts, apples, mead, apples, wine, apples, banquets and apples.

Clang, clash, clash, clang.

"Did you hear that," Merlin murmured. "Sounds like sword fighting to me." Gwaine carefully listened not allowing himself to get distracted by dreams or apples.

"Well Gwaine the Knight in shining armour and Merlin the greatest sorcerer ever shall save whomever is trouble. Damsels in distress, included," Gwaine announced, putting on his pompous and disdainful accent. Merlin sprinted in the direction the sword fighting was coming from with Gwaine hot at his heels.

...

Block, attack. Gwen's head was buzzing from all the clashing of swords but Morgana was worse off. Morgana was exhausted having slept only three or four hours the night before and having being very active since. Morgana's reactions were at least two seconds slower than they normally were and her arms were aching so much that she felt like her arms were going to fall off.

Gwen was just able to block off Morgana's lethal swipe at her but fortunately for Gwen, Morgana stumbled over a rock landing on the floor. Pointing her deadly, trembling sword at Morgana, Gwen showed Morgana that the game was up but it was not. Morgana was too determined and stubborn to give in ever until the day that she died, so in split second Morgana had come up with a sheer brilliant plan to get herself out of this difficult situation.

"So, my little queen, are you going to kill me? Are you going to kill your dear Morgana? The one that you comforted, after she woke from terrifying nightmares that came true. The one that you would bring flowers for. The one that you would risk your life to save. Could you live with yourself for killing her? You first met her when you were crying your heart out for your dead mother. When you badly needed a job, she made sure that you got a well paid one in which the people would treat you fairly and you would not have to work too much. Half your job was talking to her. Are you going to kill her?" Morgana said in the perfect frightened tone of voice. She was just too good an actress and deceiver for anyone else's liking. Giving Gwen a terrified, horrified and scared look would ensure that Gwen didn't kill her. It was Gwen's good nature that was going to be the end of her after all. When Morgana was sure that Gwen was not going to kill with the sword Morgana picked up her sword off the floor and whacked it off of Gwen's sword, making Gwen's sword fly out of her hands. Gwen fainted. It was too easy to be real for Morgana. She should have foreseen that because she was swept off her feet by a gust of wind. Black hair. Blue eyes that turned gold. It wasn't Mordred. It was Merlin. Now everything seemed to make sense for Morgana. No wonder Arthur never died when he had his magical servant Emrys at his side.

"Merlin is Emrys?" Morgana half asked, digusted.

**Thanks for reading. Please help me. How is Morgana going to react to Merlin having magic?**

**Also, the first person to crack the riddle which Mordred solved in two seconds can pick a characters name for the story. I made the riddle up so it may be quite hard to crack but there is another hint to the answer in the chapter.**

**And the competition for naming Gwen's mare is still on if you want to think of names**


	20. Hemlock

**Autumn Moon Fae- Thanks! I love Gwapple too. I have chose Melodie a name that you suggested for Gwen's mare.**

**TJTMaira- Congrats you were the first one to get the riddle so I PM you about choosing a name for a character.**

**Mike- Thanks for the help**

**Kaldi97- Thanks!**

**Guest- Glad you liked the chapter!**

"Yes. I am Emrys," Merlin confidently confirmed. Merlin stared into Morgana's eyes with immense power that Morgana never even could have dreamt he had. Frowning, Morgana raised her hand to make herself seem more powerful too, although her magic had not returned. Emrys did not know that and she didn't plan to let him know it, yet, so she kept talking to him.

"You have managed to deceive my dear brother for years. You are a traitor and have condemned heaps of your kind to death by leaving them at the mercy of Uther," Morgana hissed. Merlin decided to choose his next words carefully but his eyes still pierced into Morgana. He tried to read her mind but could not predict her next move though, knowing Morgana, it wouldn't be good.

"I didn't want to but it was sacrifices I had to make for a better future. Arthur will accept sorcerers with my help. Every time one of my- our kin die, I can't stand it. I do not want any of my kin to suf-"

"Why did you not tell me the truth?" Morgana snapped. "I entrusted you with my greatest secret but you would not entrust me with yours." Merlin breathed deeply, cautiously thinking of what to say. If he said anything that cause Morgana the slightest distress or anger then she would act rashly and he would have to react back. Mind reading, as Mordred said, was naïve so Merlin changed his tactics to react depending on what emotions Morgana was feeling. He knew that this would be very difficult as Morgana was a great actress and had even deceived himself, briefly. At first Morgana had not been able to stop her emotions overwhelming her when she discovered Merlin was Emrys. She managed find her spite and usual attitude hastily though and was now as Merlin classed 'unreadable' although Mordred and a few others would be able to figure out what she was thinking and feeling.

"I wanted to entrust you with my secret but Gaius wouldn't let me. I have told no-one about my secret although a couple of people have accidentally found out," Merlin lied. He had only choose to tell Gilli and also Mordred though with Mordred it had been a split seconds decision. Mordred had known that he was Emrys as soon as Merlin had revealed his magic. Gaius, Lancelot, Gwaine, Nimeuh, Agravaine and Alator had all accidentally found out. Iseldir, the Druids and most likely the seers knew who he was from prophecies.

"Above all of these little questions I have asked you, I have a extremely important question. I did try and ask you it once before but you managed to miraculously avoid asking it. Why?" Morgana hissed, looking desperate for an answer. Merlin raised his eyebrows as if to ask what Morgana was asking though he knew fine what she meant. "Why are you so loyal to Arthur? Why do you let your own kin die just to save his life?"

"I always knew that he had the makings of a great king an-"

"Makings of a great king," Morgana spat in fury. "Arthur kills your kin. He murders innocent people. The only kingly quality he has and ever will have, is he is a skilful swordsman." Merlin sighed heavily, again and concentrated hard. He needed to convince Morgana to leave her brother alone.

"Ever heard of destinies Morgana? My destiny has been written in the stone since the dawn of time. Emrys is said to protect the Once and Future King and help unite the lands of Albion. Arthur is said to create a kingdom of peace and unite the old ways with the new by returning magic to the land," Merlin explained.

"Rubbish. Arthur is tyrant and could never make peace," Morgana snapped though strictly speaking that was not true. Arthur had managed to ceasefire with Queen Annis and create peace with her. Well make peace with anyone decent, Morgana firmly told herself.

"When I first came to Camelot I admired your determination and courage, Morgana- I still do but I despise your ignorance and bloodthirsty nature. I am going to give you the best advice you will probably get in your life. Run, Morgana and come back. Start again and be the person I know you can be. Find somewhere where your gift is appreciated and save as many lives as you have taken. Look after your half-sister and take her with you. As long as you are with your sister and far away from here, I assure you that you will have happy life. Come on Morgana," Merlin said trying to steer clear of the pleading tone that sometimes appeared in his voice.

"Alas, Merlin. I do not run if I'm afraid. Unlike you I face the consequences of being magical and try to do everything for my kind."

"Morgana I'm going to give you one last chance for you to flee or I won't show you any mercy. Stubbornness isn't going to get you anywhere with me," Merlin sorrowfully murmured.

"I shan't show you any mercy either Merlin," Morgana retaliated stepping towards Merlin to see his reaction.

"The difference is I have nearly always shown you mercy before when I could have killed like this." Merlin snapped his fingers and continued, "Whereas you have never shown me any mercy since you spent that year with your deluded sister of yours."

"Y-You never s-s-speak of M-Morgause l-like that a-a-again," Morgana fumed. Merlin swore that he could feel the floor quaking with Morgana's every trembling word. Pure rage seethed through her but Merlin stood his ground. The mighty Emrys would not back down to a sorceress. Not even if she was a High priestess of the Old Religion, a witch, a conquer, a murderess and an extremely adept swordsman. Morgana carried on with her rage shaking words, "You c-c-condemned her to a s-slow and p-painful y-y-year and d-death a well." For the second time Merlin had drastically failed to convince Morgana to change her tactics.

Gwaine emerged from the darkness which he had been lurking in while Merlin unsuccessfully tried to convince Morgana to run. He had remained in the dark to not annoy Morgana but he knew now that things were getting out of hand and he needed to step in.

"Lady Morgana," Gwaine charmingly said putting on his posh and disdainful accent. "We really need to stop meeting like this. I can never talk to you properly if every time I see you, you are at someone's mercy and are about to die. Just try and stay away from dangerous people to er... Make you chances of dying less."

"You," Morgana groaned. "Sir Knight please leave as me and Merlin need to discuss delicate battle and them I need to claim his life." Merlin shifted uncomfortably, Gwaine was going to end up getting killed if he kept this up. He was stupid to try and annoy a barbaric king and one of the most powerful witches ever.

"'claim his life'," Gwaine quoted doing a posh mock accent that sounded too posh to be Morgana. "But that conclusion is preposterous. Your supercilious and loathsome attitude, forgetting your malevolent nature towards the notable warlock, is utterly absurd and disrespectful. My lady, thou shalt travel with one to a different land. There thou shalt remain with thou's sibling for the rest of thou's life. Ye shall be able to start ye's life again and have a loving family member to guide you. Ye shall be able to go to taverns an- Oh great posh people don't call taverns taverns do they?"

"What?" Merlin gasped, completely bewildered and lost with what Gwaine had said. Morgana was still trying to figure out what Gwaine had said though she could not understand how taverns linked with family members. Happily smiling at how confused he had manged to make Merlin and Morgana, Gwaine decided to act 'serious' now.

"Basically I wondered if Morgana and her sister would like me to help them travel safely far away from here to make sure that they get a decent place to live if she chooses to start again, faraway from here," Gwaine defined.

"Why couldn't you have said that in the first place," Merlin moaned.

"Because I was imitating Morgana," Gwaine replied. Morgana now needed to make Gwaine and Merlin have an argument so she could hopefully slip away unnoticed.

"I do not speak like that," Morgana protested, praying for Merlin and Gwaine to start arguing. A great idea came to her head as possibly Gwaine never knew about Merlin's secret. "Merlin is a sorcerer and a traitor to Camelot." Gwaine looked at Morgana pitifully before taking a quick glance at Merlin who nodded for him to go on.

"I already accidentally knew that Merlin was a sorcerer but I never knew he was a traitor to Camelot because that is a lie Morgana. Face it your living a lie, Morgana. Your imagination is truly amazing but I think you would have a better life without it."

"Living a lie," Morgana stupendously echoed. "My life is as real as yours."

"Your life is as real as mine," Gwaine confessed. "But that is not what I meant. You pretend that your brother is an evil tyrant and is as bad as your father when he is not. Your brother is a good man who tries to create peace in the land and even has began to trust magic a bit. If you had chosen another path to your life and chose to help Arthur learn that magic can be good then I'm sure the kingdom's magic laws would be lifted as soon as Uther would have died a natural death. I'm telling you Morgana, not as an enemy but as a friend to run. I know that if I was in your position I would run. Everybody in Gremian's and Arthur's kingdom are searching for you to kill you. In other kingdoms people have heard the price that King Gremian would pay to have you or Arthur captured. Nowhere near here is safe."

Suddenly Morgana felt a sensation power lurking inside her and she almost managed to smile but changed her expression as she remembered who Emrys really was. Gwaine was unnerved by Morgana because he was worried about what Morgana planned to do next. He knew worry wasn't a wise counsel but he was slightly nervous Merlin and told himself firmly not to get to involved with Morgana again.

"What's wrong, my lady," Gwaine asked.

"You are a liar," Morgana snarled. "You consort with Emrys so therefore you are deceiver, Sir Knight. You wish to probably hand me over to King Gremian or Arthur to ensure that I will not have my revenge. They deserve it? I shall start now with you, Sir Knight," Morgana announced blasting Gwaine back off the wall. Fortunately for Gwaine the stone wall had a layer of soft moss and earth on it. Merlin reacted hastily to Morgana's movements and stepped back.

"Five seconds, Morgana," Merlin warned. "Run or your dead." For a moment Morgana was conflicted as she could run away then come back to kill Arthur. She would have to abandon the quest though and surely Emrys would tell the seers not to tell her about Arthur's bane. Sacrificing many nights of sleep, peaceful days and her last reminder of her sister would seem pointless if she gave up now. Morgana hadn't had a nightmare yet but still she felt devasted. Perhaps it was just an ominous feeling lurking in her stomach because she knew of the distress that her dreams were going to bring her.

"Five... Four... Three... Two... One," Merlin counted slowly. Looking disappointed that Morgana had not moved anywhere Merlin held his hand up as a warning.

"Looks like I'm going nowhere," Morgana smirked. "But your wrong. It is you that shall be lying on the ground dead, Emrys." Gwaine stumbled onto his feet and lifted Gwen (who was still unconscious) out of the way of the two sorcerers which were obviously going to have a barbaric and bloody battle.

"You must take Gwen and go, Gwaine," Merlin ordered.

"I won't leave you here," Gwaine protested.

"The Queen must live or Arthur won't be the king that I know he can be. I can look after myself well enough, Gwaine. I'm not that much younger than you."

"Well you still look the same as when I first met you same trousers, t-shirts, scarfs, boots and hair," Gwaine laughed. "Have you changed your name though? Emmyris sounds like a girls name."

"It's Emrys," Morgana hissed. "You have tarried too long Emrys and I shall put an end to that. Belúcan hine." Merlin's scarf began to tighten around his neck, suffocating him. Merlin tried to loosen it but he could get it away from his neck. He felt like a fool as Morgana had no doubt enchanted it.

"Gelipian mec," Merlin gasped. His eyes flickered gold but the scarf did not loosen like it was meant to. Morgana's powers were as strong as his now.

"So Emrys is going to die from suffocation. I expected so much more," Morgana laughed coldly. Gwaine was standing struck on the spot with Gwen in his arms. He had expected Merlin to be a lot more powerful to especially since he had somehow managed to defeat any human or creature that threatened Arthur's life or destiny.

"R-RUN!" Merlin croaked. "Gelipian mec." His eyes turned gold and he finally managed to loosen his scarf. Merlin gasped and spluttered, kneeling down on the floor taking in large mouthfuls of the icy air. Gwaine realised this was his cue to leave and he loped away carrying the precious Queen.

"Hleap upon bæc," enchanted Morgana. Merlin had no time to react and he had no other option than to be blasted against the earthy wall. She was purely better than him though she had the advantage of making the first move. Knowing how she would finish Merlin off, Morgana levitated her dagger over Merlin's heart so it was digging into his skin slighting and a small line of blood was trickling out. Merlin tried to send Morgana's dagger back at her but he failed. Perhaps he was just unwell and tired. Morgana blurred out like everything else in the room and Merlin felt himself going.

Standing over the apparently mighty Emrys caused Morgana's lips to break into a smile. He would not be her doom after all then.

"I'm going to poison you with hemlock and leave you in this godforsaken place that the Druids call their home to die. It is no less than you deserve," Morgana sneered. Merlin's eyes stared unfocused into the distance and Morgana who had not realised that Merlin had fainted raised her fist. She slapped him but Merlin did not stir in the slightest. Needing him to be awake when she force fed him the hemlock so that he would die in pain, Morgana gave Merlin's face a small nudge with her foot. She gave him a hard kick in the face making blood spurt his nose. Continuing to kick his face, Morgana spilled more of Merlin's blood everywhere making her boots and bottom of her dress drenched I It too.

Finally, when Merlin regained conscious, he couldn't see anything because of the blood which was only beginning to clot.

"Now I want you to feel how I felt. To know that your own kin betrayed you and poisoned you is beyond any pain that I can admit. The only way I can make you feel that is by doing what you did to me. I am going to force feed you hemlock," Morgana coldly hissed. Merlin looked up nervously into her eyes and smiled. This smile startled Morgana as she didn't understand how someone who was going to die could be happy.

"Why are you happy Emrys?" Morgana interrogated harshly. "Do you want to die a slow and painful death?"

"No I don't want to die, Morgana, but it looks like I don't have a choice," Merlin grumbled.

"Your right Emrys, you do not have a choice. Don't try and avoid my question though as you will fail. Why are you happy then if you do not wish to die?" Morgana inquired with a bone chilling calmness. They glared at each other for a minute before Morgana raised her eyebrow and Merlin knew that he had to answer.

"I'm happy because I know that you will never be able to defeat Arthur or Camelot," Merlin spat, causing Morgana to frown a bit. Quickly transforming her frown into an evil smile, Morgana extracted a vial out of her cloak.

"Your wrong, Emrys. The only reason I am not still Camelot's is you. Without you Arthur won't last a second let alone a lifetime. Don't worry it's not hemlock in this vial," sneered Morgana. Her frosty laughs reverberated round the tunnel causing Merlin to violently shiver and the water droplets to turn to ice. To Merlin's relief Morgana purposely dropped the vial. Oh dear!" Morgana cruelly remarked. Hitting the ground, the vial did not smash and remained completely intact. The relief vanished from Merlin as soon as it had came. Morgana laughed even more coldly.

"Hurry up," Merlin mumbled. His eyes only focused on one thing- Morgana's eyes. Merlin's dying wish was for Morgana to regret killing him although he knew that it would be almost impossible. Wrenching the vial open, Morgana poured all the liquid down Merlin's throat. Merlin tried to choke it all up and spit it out but Morgana had been prepared for him to do that and forced it to travel down Merlin's throat by using a magical spell. Morgana merely gave Merlin a sad smile before standing up and taking a couple of steps away from him.

"There is no doubt that you are a powerful sorcerer, Emrys, but you have made the wrong choices and must pay with you life." Merlin's breaths became short and strangled. Is this all his great destiny had been about? He hadn't really united the lands of or returned magic to Camelot though Arthur was beginning to trust magic.

CRASH!

Suddenly, the the roof fell in splitting Morgana and Merlin up. Morgana could still hear Merlin's rasping breaths and smirked. He was going to die alone and Morgana knew that the image of her face would always haunt him and cause him sorrow, forever. Putting up the hood of her cloak, Morgana sank to the ground from exhaustion but shook herself awake. The quest was all going to plan. All she needed to do now was ask the seers about Arthur's bane. Morgana could hear the rasping breaths getting weaker and weaker so the witch decided to stay here until she could hear the weak breaths no more.

...

Gwaine panted loudly and gently placed Gwen on the ground while he took a drink from the crystal clear river that flowed through the cave. When he turned around there was a man standing behind. Drawing his sword out, Gwaine pointed it at the man.

"What are you doing here?" Gwaine asked, warningly.

"I only wish to help you get out of this tunnel, Sir Gwaine," the man courteously replied.

"Who are you?" Gwaine inquired still trying to decide whether this man was a threat or not.

"A seer," the man replied. "I shall show you the way." Walking away, the seer gestured for Gwaine to follow Gwaine carefully picked up Gwen and followed the seer deciding that the seer possessed no threat. It took Gwaine and the seer ten minutes to get out the tunnel. The exit of the tunnel was not near the entrance but surprisingly the horses were tethered just outside the exit. Before Gwaine could turn around to thank the seer, the seed had vanished into thin air.

Gwen's white mare, Melodie, stamped her hoof impatiently when she saw her mistress in Gwaine's arms. Gwaine carefully placed Gwen on top of Melodie's back as even though Gwen was unconscious, Gwaine knew that Gwen would be more safe on Melodie than riding on his untameable beast. Clicking his tongue, Gwaine just managed to hold his lively horse back at a walking pace from galloping into the distance while Melodie obediently walked by Gwaine's side. Gwaine walked, leading the horses for hours hoping that he would find somewhere to rest. He didn't even know where he was and could only guess the way back to Camelot. Well it was actually only twenty minutes until Gwaine came across something, though it felt like hours to Gwaine.

"Look there's a camp here," Gwaine rejoiced to Gwen whom was still unconscious. Gwaine led Melodie and his untameable horse to camp to ask for directions. A muscular man came out of a tent and noticed Gwaine standing with the two horses and Gwen on Melodie's back.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" the man roared. It was then that Gwaine noticed the man wore the Saxon crest on his tunic.

**Thank for reading. Please review!**


	21. The Witch's 'Twin'

**Jedimasterawesome- Thanks, I'm really happy that you like it. I'll put some more Mergana hints in it because I haven't really put much Mergana hints in it for a while. If Merlin and Morgana discuss poisoning again then I will put that in. Anyway, thanks again.**

**TJTMaira- Gwaine is always in trouble. I'm beginning to think he is a danger to himself**. I **love cliffhangers too much so I'm sorry for leaving the story on huge cliffhangers two chapters running. Haha it's my mean tactic but I'm going to finish this story. Anyway enjoy this chapter. **

**Juniorwoofles- Thanks and I'm wordless so I'll just quote Jewaine as usual, "There is a very thin line between love and hate". That theme will be playing through out the story especially with Merlin but Morgana is just acting badass and wants to take over the world just now.**

This best descriptive word for this chapter is- regret.

"Ahh... Hello," Gwaine awkwardly said. "We were travelling... and got lost and... accidentally rode into the middle of your camp." It was all true except that he had not 'accidentally' rode into the camp instead he had purposely walked into the camp.

"Lies," the Saxon grunted. "Yeh can't accidentally ride into our camp." Grasping the hand of his sword, Gwaine prepared himself for an attack though the Saxon was not making any threatening gestures at the moment.

"Quite easily," Gwaine laughed. "You fall asleep on your horse and you 'accidentally' ride into the camp and fall off your horse." The disgruntled Saxon stared at him in disbelief. Gwaine struggled not to burst out laughing but the Saxon had not seemed to notice that he was a knight of Camelot. Was it really that hard to miss his blood red cape with the golden dragon on it or the fact that he wore silver chain mail instead of the leather and furs that Saxon warriors would wear.

"If yeh lie then I want BLOOD! Yer BLOOD!," the Saxon threatened.

"It looks like I have nothing to fear then," Gwaine cheerfully said. "So I will just go will I?" Gwaine turned around towards his horse but the Saxon made such a raucous shrieking noise that Gwaine was struck immobile. The Saxon had a low voice and a heavy accent so not in a thousand years would Gwaine have imagined that the Saxon would make that noise. The noise worked how it was meant to though and soon Gwaine was surrounded by several other Saxons.

"Careful," Gwaine warned. "This is just a simple misunderstanding. If you kill me then you will regret it because my friend won't rest until he finds and kills you all." Gwaine regretted saying this as the Saxons moved closer to him with their swords pointing at his heart.

"Who's that?" a Saxon growled. His chunky fingers pointed at the unconscious Gwen on Melodie.

"My wife," Gwaine invented. "We were travelling to... Ealdor to see my mother who is called Hunith. I am called... Merlin and this is my wife Morgan. We nee-"

"NEED THE CHIEF!" a Saxon roared. "GET 'IM, SLAVE!" A young child with a mane of matted hair stumbled towards the tent. He had been sitting so quietly that Gwaine hadn't even noticed that he was there. The boy also blended in perfectly with the background as hair was a dull and grimy shade of light brown though if it was washed then it may have been a lovely shade of extremely light blond. He was so dishevelled and dirty that even his eyes were gaunt and did not stand out one bit.

Bang, bang, bang, bang.

Nervously looking at the trembling ground, Gwaine began to hope that an earthquake wasn't going to occur. The source of the noise approached him slowly. Gwaine raised his head to the find the biggest and ugliest man he had ever seen the only. The man didn't even look human more like a beast. It wouldn't have surprised Gwaine if the man was related to the giant that they had defeated as his appearance to the giant was uncanny except from the fact that he was a lot smaller.

"Over 'ere, Chief Pierce," a Saxon pointed. The giant, ugly man responded to the Saxon making Gwaine suspect him to be Chief Pierce. "'e says 'e is just walkin' and came 'ere by accident, chief Pierce. 'e looks differen' not normal." Chief Pierce looked in digust at Gwaine's appearance as he thought that Gwaine was too done up and didn't look realistic.

"If it means I'm not ugly then I'm quite happy to be different," Gwaine retaliated cooly. Chief Pierce smacked his lips revealing several rotting teeth that were covered in blood. Gwaine could imagine this brute using his mouth kill children by biting the child's neck open or biting through all the child's skin and ripping out the heart which he would no doubt devour whole. Shuddering at this thought, Gwaine used all his courage just to approach this man as no doubt he was a cannibal. Gwaine never could have dreamt of meeting a man more ugly or brutal than King Gremian but he was pretty sure that Chief Pierce would be able to rival King Gremian. After all Chief Pierce was no doubt hand picked by King Gremian himself so there would be no surprise there.

"IDIOTS!" Chief Pierce boomed. "INNIT A KNIGH' O' CAMELOT! RED THING AN' ALL! WHA' 'IS NAME?" Chief Pierce neared Gwaine who edged to left a little so that he was closer to Gwen. His duty was to Camelot and now he needed to protect the queen even if it cost him his life.

"You took your time to realise that I am a Knight of Camelot. I would try and get a brighter cape

with a bigger picture of a dragon because this cape is very dull and it is really hard to make out the golden dragon," Gwaine sarcastically joked.

"Merley is his name," a Saxon snorted. "A stupid name, innit. 'e is a stupid thing though." Gwaine was infuriated by these Saxons manners.

"My name is Merlin," Gwaine indignantly lied. "And this is my wife Melodie." It was too risky to say that his wife was called Morgan again because it sounded too much like Morgana, meaning that there would be every chance that Saxons might think that they have caught the witch and might even take her to King Gremian.

"Melodie. Wha' I thought it was Morgan," a Saxon butted in.

"It was Morgan I heard yeh say it," another Saxon agreed.

"THA' SOUNDS 'BOUT RIGH'! MORGAN THE WITCH!" Chief Pierce shouted with glee. "THIS IS THE WITCH AN' 'ER LOVER! IT FITS AN' EVERYTHIN'! THE UGLY WITCH AN' 'ER UGLY LOVER THE KNIGH' WHO THINKS 'E'S TERRIBLY FUNNY!"

Gwaine exasperatedly sighed at his own stupidity. He had doomed them all, again.

...

Hemlock was indeed a substance that Merlin did not ever want to see, smell, feel, hear or taste again. He felt like he wasn't going to be able to properly breathe again. His hoarse and rattily breaths convinced him that he defiantly would not take another proper breath. Him not wanting to kill Morgana when she had been the source of the magic, had made this situation a lot more painful for him. He could have just chose to stab a sword through Morgana's heart meaning that she would die quickly, but he was such a coward that he could not bring himself to do that. The tension, when Morgana had raised the bottle up to her lips, had been almost too much for Merlin to take. He had felt faint and emotionally lost it, when he had cradled her lifeless body in his arms. That was the past though and in his dying moments he did not want to look to the past. If Merlin had not chosen to poison Morgana, then he wondered whether he would still be alive and if he was still alive thenwhat he would be doing. Whether he would imprisoned and tortured or happy and joyful.

Though Merlin might of not initially wanted to dwell in the past, he did. The happiest year of his life had been when he had first arrived at Camelot when he had been Arthur's manservant. Everything had been incredibly happy for him except from the magic ban and the annoyance of mucking out Arthur's horses and falling in horse dung several times. Gaius had looked after him and their relationship, even back then, was strong. Arthur had been extremely annoying and had made him do thousands of tedious chores but they had had fun teasing each other by calling each other names. Gwen had been his best friend apart from Arthur (though Arthur didn't admit that he had liked Merlin). Morgana had been kind hearted, compassionate, determined and the only person who had managed to convince Uther to change his mind and not sentence someone to death though that was a rare occurrence. Merlin had not known Morgana that well at first but he knew that she was said to have been very courteous and friendly to even people who were apparently inferior to her. Knowing that he was fading and would soon be dead, Merlin made tried his ultimate best to pretend that he was in the past with his three good friends. Peacefully he closed his eyes but quickly opened them because he could vaguely hear someone approaching. Merlin wasn't too sure whether he was dreaming, as everything seemed so vague and unreal.

"Emrys," the person muttered. It was Morgana coming back to taunt him as the girl had long black hair. Merlin tried to move away from her but failed to do so. Parts of his vision was becoming black but she bent down to him with her black hair annoyingly getting in the way of his eyes and tickling his skin. Feeling the world fading away, frightened Merlin even more then anything else had scared him. Everything was fading and becoming darkness. He tried desperately to open his eyes but they were already open and just not working. Air would not come into his lungs and with his last strength he tried to breathe but failed. He couldn't think straight but felt a teardrop falling onto his cheek. It must have been her teardrop as he did not have any energy to cope with crying. Merlin hoped he might of been able to utter one last word to Morgana but he could not. He desperately wanted to say that he was simply sorry. His head throbbed agonisingly and collided with something, although it probably didn't and feeling like that was just a side effect of him dying. Suddenly there was darkness and nothing more.

"Be strong, Emrys. Just for me," she cried stroking his dark brown hair and watching him go ghostly white.

...

Gwaine couldn't think of what to say next. So he said, "Are all Saxons this stupid? One, I am not in love with the witch. Two, that is not the witch. Three, I am not ugly. Four, Morgana isn't ugly either. You can't comment on people being ugly when your the ugliest and stupidest human that I will ever meet. Stupid and gullible is the only characteristics you have so I am frankly glad that I only met you today."

"'E IS THE KNIGH' CAUSE 'E THINKS 'E IS REALLY FUNNY!" Chief Pierce yelled.

"Do I," Gwaine seriously debated. "Well I'm not laughing so I obviously don't think I'm funny." Gwaine looked at the Saxons in complete horror. He desperately needed help and, although Gwaine did not know it, help was riding towards them at this very minute alarmingly fast.

"Are we goin' to kill 'em," a Saxon questioned.

"BLOOD! WANT BLOOD! BLOOD! WANT BLOOD!" the Saxons chorused. Chief Pierces rubbed his beard lost in thought for a minute.

"NO!" Pierce boomed. All of the Saxons immediay stopped chanting as soon as he said. "WE WILL TAKE 'EM BACK TO THE KING AN' HE WILL LINE OUR POCKETS WITH GOLD." Everyone cheered at this apart from the apparent 'Morgana' who was still unconscious and Gwaine.

"Wha' abou' the knigh'?"

"WE WILL LEAVE 'IM 'ERE TO REMIND ARTHUR THAT 'IS SISTER HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED!" Chief Pierce announced.

"No I'm coming with you," Gwaine fiercely said. His duty was to Camelot and he desperately needed to protect the queen at this moment. He was going to do everything in his will to ensure that they didn't get separated.

"CUTE!" Pierce laughed hoarsely. "'E IS A LIAR AN' LOVES THE WITCH AFTER ALL!" Gwaine could not be more exasperated by these Saxons even if he tried. He was far beyond exasperation now. He really needed to say it out loud as he couldn't keep in his head any longer.

"YOU ARE SO STUPID THAT I DON'T EVEN THINK YOU ARE HUMAN! THAT IS NOT EVEN THE WITCH" Gwaine screamed, instantly making himself feel ten times better.

"IT'S DEFIANTLY THE WITCH INNIT PEOPLE!" The other Saxons nodded mutely knowing what was coming next. Chief Pierce picked up a helmet off the ground and blasted it off of Gwaine's skull.

"NOW LET'S TAKE THE WITCH AN' GE' OUR GOLD!" Pierce rejoiced.

"GOLD! WANT GOLD! GOLD! WANT GOLD!" the Saxons cheered.

"WE NOW NEED TO PACK UP THE CAM' AN' LEAVE BEFORE THE KNIGH' WAKES UP!" Chief Pierce ordered. The poor young slave boy jumped to his feet ready to endure a couple of hours of being slapped and treated like vermin for not being fast enough to pack the things up. He felt sorry for the girl because she was going to surely be killed. Whenever they killed a girl a witch then they would chop the girl's head off; not that he knew what a witch was as he was only nine after all. He didn't know a lot of things as he was kept in cell until he was considered old enough to work at the age of six. The boy wanted to help the girl who had been killed witch but what could a boy who was nine years old possibly do to help her?

...

Morgana was so excited that she was feeling nauseous. Being extremely miserable for months on end (thirty nine months and fifteen days to be exact) meant that when she did finally feel slightly happy she would be overwhelmed with happiness. The Calliechs had lied Merlin wasn't her doom because she had personally made sure that he had died. Now she was going to find the information she needed to find Arthur's. With Emrys out of her way, Morgana knew that Camelot would be a lot easier to takeover and when she did take it over Camelot she was pretty sure that no one would be able to thwart her this time.

Striding around the tunnels as she owned the place, it only took Morgana ten minutes to find the stairs that led to the druid seer's house. Hastily opening the door, she strolled inside and looked around the room.

"Hello?" she called. Suddenly a hand, which was as cold as ice, grabbed Morgana's wrist and hauled her round. The old man virtually tried to drag Morgana away but she stood rooted on the spot.

"Come on, Morgana. We do not have much time before he comes," the man begged.

"Who are you? I will never let anyone take me anywhere against my own will without a fight. Where are we going?," Morgana demanded.

"I am a seer, child, your kin and I must take you through the room because he will listen if I don't."

"Who's 'he'," Morgana stubbornly interrogated.

"Someone whom none of us should be concerned about at the moment. Only three people matter," the man wisely advised.

"Then shouldn't we just remain in this room," Morgana protested. She didn't really want to be hauled off to another room in which a trap may be. Perhaps she was just being cautious but the possibility was still maybe a one in four chance.

"Morgana Pendragon, High Priestess of the Old Religion and last of your kind. Seer, sorceress and witch. You are the most stubborn, strong willed and determined young lady I have ever met. I never expected you to be like this after everything I have seen in prophecies about you," the man murmured.

"I need find Arthur's bane be-"

"I know why you're here. Being a powerful seer, means that I shall know most of the near future and that time is nearing. It is your fate to hear how he dies at this moment," the old man stammered. "Now come hither child."

"Why is everyone so intent on calling me a child? I haven't been a child in years," Morgana protested.

"You are young compared to everyone who called you that and plus you are still excessively learning things. Now come hither, witch."

"Why witch?"

"Because witch is nought but the truth of whom you are." Morgana frowned. There was some truth in what he said but in Camelot witch had been the ultimate threat. Perhaps where he had come from witch wasn't used as a threat but more of a descriptive term. Descriptive term, Morgana told herself sternly, I need the information on how to kill Arthur to survive. Morgana reluctantly followed the seer through a door into a small secure room. Keeping herself alert all the time, Morgana didn't like it when the seer closed the door tightly. She had every right to be paranoid as she had been captured and put behind bars twice within a couple of months recently.

"The witch has arrived," the seer announced. "Our kin; the last High Priestess of the Old Religion; Morgana Pendragon has arrived." Suddenly another woman and man sprang out the darkness at Morgana who hastily pulled out her dagger as she was extremely uncomfortable about the entire situation.

"There is no need for violence Morgana Pendragon. All we want is for you to the throne that is rightfully yours," assured the younger man with chestnut hair.

"Being a good queen is not an easy task but you shall succeed in it. You are said to bring peace and prosperity to the land and ceasefire," the old man calmly said looking deep into her green eyes. "But alas, you did not come here to find out about your future. You came here to find out how Arthur dies."

"How?" Morgana nervously begged.

"Not how but whom exactly. It is your choice whether Arthur dies just now or not. It is only you whom can protect him by doing something extremely important. Arthur's bane is Mordred. Mordred will kill Arthur." A small crease came across Morgana's forehead and she gave a huge sigh of relief but disappointment. Now she regretted being mean to Mordred that one time.

**Thanks for reading. Now all you are going to have to wait for is the magic reveal to Arthur. Which may just be coming soon. You guys are great so please review.**


	22. Sister?

**Autumn Moon Fae- Hahaha Gwaine is too awesome in his own funny way.**

**Serenityskywalker- Thank you very much! **

**JuniorWoofles- Shame :(**

**Lily was TJTMaira's name choice and she appears in this chapter. Enjoy!**

"Mordred is Arthur's bane," Morgana repeated incredulously. "But he is just a boy." It was like a complex jigsaw puzzle as Morgana couldn't piece together this information with everything she knew about Mordred. Mordred was a mystery to everyone who met him and was full of pleasant and not so pleasant surprises. However Morgana knew that him being friends with Arthur wasn't an act, causing Morgana to dwell deeper into this matter. Mordred being Arthur's bane just didn't make sense. Morgana had thought that she would be Arthur's bane. She had thought that all the Druids would need to tell her was how and when she would fulfil the prophecy of being Arthur's bane although now Morgana had made a fool out of herself as the witch was usually right about a lot of things.

Mordred. Arthur's bane. Arthur's friend. Traitor. Her friend. These thoughts went round on a rotational loop in Morgana's brain. The seers stood in the background and just gazed into space to let Morgana get to grips with what she had just heard about Mordred. The information was startlingly shocking and before Morgana could fit it together she found the seers looking at the door as if they were expecting someone to burst in at this very sight. Shivering, Morgana glanced at the stone door to realise that perhaps coming into this room hadn't been a good idea after all. The seers didn't appear to be very trustworthy and she felt as if she was being confined to this room. Wanting to get out of this dim, grey room which had damp and rotting feeling about it, Morgana strode towards the door silently without even saying a word. The seers thought this was discourteous considering that they had just gave Morgana the information she had been desperate to get for over five years.

Wait," the seer murmured to Morgana. Morgana obeyed and halted facing the door with one of her hands resting on the rough handle of the door. "Beware Morgana. You cannot tell Mordred that he is going to kill Arthur and if you do everything shall go wrong and Mordred shall turn against you and ally with Arthur forever." These words did not really impact Morgana that much as she wasn't planning to Mordred that he was going to kill Arthur in the foreseeable as she knew that it probably wouldn't go to plan and would end up in disaster. Mutely nodding her head, Morgana abruptly left the room without so much as smile or a simple "thank you". The seers exchanged guilty looks with each other. They knew that the witch was evil and arrogant; corrupted by her sheer magical power and even more evil sister but it didn't mean that she wasn't the person the legends foretold. Morgana had the potential for greatness but she just needed to show it. For instance just now, she had managed to figure out that there was a trap door on the roof and moved the ladder, by magic, from the corner room to the trap door and clambered out of the dingy room. It took Morgana's eyes a while to adjust to the dazzling sunlight and when they did, she began to hatch a daring plan to make Mordred turn against Arthur. This plan was very risky and concluded of her faking death and could put hundreds of lives at risk if she didn't pull it off but all in all it was quite a good plan although Morgana would need to get many recruits and have to wait until the Saxons retreated from Arthur's kingdom or Arthur was thwarted by the idiotic King Gremian. It took her no longer than half an hour to find her horse but when Morgana did she found out that the witch did not face the major repercussion that Gwaine, Mordred and every else faced, Morgana actually knew the way back to her hovel.

...

Gwaine reluctantly opened his eyes when he felt someone trying to shake him awake. At first he unsure of who it was, but as his vision focused and lost its blurriness, Gwaine could tell that it was Mordred.

"What the hell is wrong, Mordred?" Gwaine moaned still half asleep.

"Why were you unconscious?" Mordred worriedly asked. Gwaine looked around completely at ease, taking in what was happening.

"Huh," Gwaine yawned. "Oh yeah... How did you find me?" Finally what had happened starting coming back to Gwaine and he began to realise where he was and what had happened to Gwen. Why the hell had he said Morgan? Gwaine had always known that he was a bit of an idiot but he had never thought that he was this stupid. Perhaps him thinking of Merlin duelling Morgana caused him to accidentally say Morgan but it would be naïve to say that. It went deeper than that. Morgana had caused Merlin, Arthur, Gwen and whole of Camelot pain beyond all imagining but somehow he didn't hate her but more pitied her and wanted her and everybody else to make amends although Gwaine knew that probability to that was about one in a billion trillion. Gwaine was a likeable knight because of his optimism and he knew that if there was the slightest chance that Morgana may change sides, even if it's probability was one in a billion trillion, that it could still happen.

"The river," Mordred knowledgeably said pointing to the small river. "Normally if you follow a river you will find some sort of settlement or human civilisation. What happened to Merlin?"

"He's fine," Gwaine lied. Gwaine could not help imagining bloody visions with Merlin lying caked in blood on the ground. He knew that if Morgana had any chance of killing Merlin, then Merlin would be dead but he still couldn't hate Morgana. He sympathised her even though he knew that Morgana had her nameless half sister who would be able to look after her. "We need to worry about Gwen?

"Why?" Mordred pressed. "I told her to ride back to Camelot. Did she not?"

"No she didn't. She was knocked unconscious." Mordred raised his eyebrows as to ask why Gwen had been unconscious. "Long story but was something along the lines of sword fighting with Morgana."

"Idiot," Mordred mumbled. Gwaine nervously chuckled at this remark though in his head he was silently debating whether him and Mordred should try and rescue Gwen or travel back to Camelot to tell Arthur the dreadful news. "Don't tell anyone I said that though or I would probably be charged with treason."

"I wouldn't dream of it. Gwen had been taken hostage by the Saxons and... Well... There is slight repercussion. She may be burnt at the stake," Gwaine mumbled.

"Why? Do they think that she is a witch?"

"They think that she is Morgana and it is all my fault," Gwaine explained. A small crease appeared on Mordred's forehead as his eyes locked with Gwaine. He frowned not because he was confused at how Gwen could have been muddled up with the witch but what to do next. Like Gwaine he was silently debating whether to track Gwen down themselves or tell Arthur that his wife had been mistaken for the witch. He shut his eyes trying to visualise what was happening to Gwen at this moment. Mordred couldn't imagine Gwen being dead or serious maimed. Unlike Gwaine he chose to think that King Gremian's soldiers would have the brains to keep 'Morgana alive. He knew that when King Gremian saw Gwen that he would know that she was not Morgana. But the important question was, would he who Gwen really was? When Mordred had finally concluded what he wanted to do, he opened his eyes. If he was thinking he liked to block out everything around him so that he could concentrate on the matter and visualise everything.

"We shall go to Camelot," Mordred declared opening his beautiful cerulean eyes. Gwaine couldn't tell what was going on in Mordred's mind. His didn't even give away any tantalising hints and remained extremely emotionless. Hiding his emotions was a skill that Mordred had been adept at for numerous years. He knew the way the mind worked and even though he had 'mind reading' magic (though Mordred thought that it would be indeed naïve to call it that) Mordred was still great at hiding his emotions though he couldn't act. For instance if he was extremely angry with someone he could hide it well but he couldn't look happy or sad while he was extremely angry. This meant that half the time he spent looking like he was not sad, happy or angry but just emotionless and blank. Though this skill was great, it could not compare to the brilliant acting that Morgana was able to do. Morgana could manipulate people by playing through different emotions and fool people so easily that it was impossible to know who she really was. The thing that Mordred really wanted to be able to do was fake cry when he needed to and he knew that Morgana could do this. Perhaps in the future he would be able to get acting and manipulating lessons off Morgana but for now, he would just have to spend a while looking blank and emotionless.

...

A picture began to form vaguely in Merlin's head. He didn't know where he was but it looked picturesque. Merlin was lying in soft lime green grass with tall, emerald trees keeping him out of the sunlight. The dazzling sun reflected off the burn making the water look silvery and unrealistic. Merlin's hand dangled into the river but it did not feel cold instead felt pleasantly warm. It was mid April and Merlin knew, since he was north of Camelot, that it should of been cold since no fire was right next to him. However there was a fire in the distance with an aroma of cooking fish and rabbits wafting towards him. This had to be some sort of afterlife as he never had seen somewhere more peaceful, beautiful or even more perfect than this. Merlin was still earthy from the cave so he bent over the silvery burn washing his face with the natural water. He felt parched and drank from the burn until his thirst was quenched. Merlin after that looked at his reflection in the burn to see that he looked slightly paler than usual but, apart from that, the warlock looked his usual self. The warmth of the water made Merlin want to just jump in it but he knew that he would catch a cold afterwards so he didn't. Merlin had a rather large cut on his knee though so he dipped his fingers into the water and dripped the water onto his wound. The wound healed instantly and vanished not leaving a mark. Slowly, Merlin raised his hand up to his neck where Morgana had made a small cut with her dagger to feel to mark. This burn seemed to have magic properties.

_Emrys_, said a telepathic voice. Merlin was pretty sure that he had heard this voice before but not telepathically. He closed his eyes just wondering what on earth was going on but couldn't manage to fit anything together. Someone placed his hand on his shoulder and the plot thickened. Merlin turned around to see the pale girl with her hair which was as black as ebony. Her dark stormy blue, green eyes told Merlin who it was. He could not understand what she was doing here or why she wasn't trying to kill him. Merlin could tell this was no chance meeting and that he wasn't dead. What he couldn't understand was how he was alive. She couldn't of saved his life. Couldn't of she? Well she could of but she wouldn't. Or would she? Merlin was confused. Utterly bewildered so he just replied, "You?" It was more of a question than anything as if he was wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. He didn't even know what her name was.

"Yes it is I, Morgana's half-sister, Emrys," Morrigan said softly in a soothing tone. "I, who healed you from the hemlock that my sister tried to kill you with. The vilia helped me in the brook helped me, This is the only time that I shall help you though." Morrigan offered Merlin a hand up and she led him to the camp fire, with the mouth watering aroma wafting put of it.

"Why?" Merlin asked. Morrigan just shook her head a little sadly in response. They eyes met and Morrigan gave an sad absent minded smile. It was clear that she was very upset and miserable about something. Merlin didn't know what but he returned the smile. Her smile had been full of despair and misery whereas his smile was full of happiness and hope. Morrigan had moments where she was just a wreck and wanted to die. Living without love hurt like hell and it had seemed like her life was wasteful and pointful. Merlin watched as Morrigan glided into the distance. He wasn't too sure what she was doing but she turned around to look at him before she vanished out of his sight.

_This is where we say farewell for now brother_, Morrigan telepathically whispered before blinking and turning around to go and trudging away. Merlin now couldn't think straight. Morrigan had called him brother. He needed to talk to the only person who could possibly know anything about Morgana's sister. He spoke the words of the Old Religion which would summon his faithful companion to him.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, young warlock?" Kilgharrah roared, landing softly beside Merlin and looking into Merlin's eyes. It always surprised Kilgharrah when he saw how small Merlin was for his huge destiny which would shape the future of not just Camelot but the whole of Albion too.

"Do I have a half-sister by father?" Merlin questioned hastily. The Great Dragon peered into Merlin's eyes. "This girl called me brother."

"I do not know, young warlock. If she is younger than you then it is quite possible. Is the girl trustworthy?" Kilgharrah looked very interested in what Merlin had to say. After all people who were related to Dragonlords were like superior to him. Merlin frowned when the Great Dragon said as there could be every chance that Morrigan could of lied as she was Morgana's sister. If this were true then Merlin wouldn't be able to explain why Morrigan would have saved his life.

"I don't know. She saved my life but then she is Morgana's ally and half-sister," Merlin gasped still trying to piece everything together.

"So Vivenne would be her mother. What is her name?" Kilgharrah wondered aloud. Kilgharrah couldn't make sense of this either but he knew that if he wasn't imprisoned in that filthy cell for years upon end then he would know all the answers to Merlin's questions. He felt intense fury for Uther Pendragon for the billionth time in his life. This is why he did not like the witch, Morgana Pendragon. He knew that it had been foretold that Uther's spirit of hatred would be inherited by the witch and it seemed, by what Merlin had said, that it had happened. Kilgharrah now felt rage towards Aithusa is well.

"I don't know," Merlin called. He now felt like an idiot seeing as the dragon had been around for a thousand years. Merlin blushed a bit and looked at ground in frustration. "I don't think anyone knows her name."

"MORGANA MUST DIE!" Kilgharrah snarled. Merlin frowned as this seemed to have just come out of the blue. "HEED MY WORDS, YOUNG WARLOCK! THE WITCH MUST DIE BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!" Kilgharrah took off with great fury and growled so that everybody within ten miles at him shuddered with fear. Loud noises like that were a bad omen caused every human to fear for their lives while debating what had made that terrible noises. Even animals ran for their lives for hours on end. Kilgharrah knew that this would be the result of animals and humans fleeing in fear. The Dragon had left Merlin with more questions than he had started with making him determined to answer all the questions

...

Drip, drop. Drip, drop.

The drizzly rain splattered on Arthur and his knights as they trotted through the woods in search of Gwen. The dismal weather perfectly reflected Arthur's mood as Gwen had been nearly missing for a day. Showers of rain had been on and off the whole of the day and now dark clouds had arisen overhead making a storm and large downpour of rain quite likely to happen soon. A storm would not make Arthur cease the search for Gwen, not even for a few minutes. It was beginning to get dark and although he was exhausted, Arthur wasn't ready to give up for the night. He had not even stopped for a bite of food and when he heard that the guard on the gate last night had either fallen asleep or been knocked unconscious he had felt sickened beyond all imagination. It was a large possibility that she had been taken hostage perhaps for ransom or to lure Arthur into a trap. What Arthur couldn't understand, if Gwen had been taken hostage, what Arthur wouldn't be able to explain was how the people would have been able to elude the guards. Unless Gwen had gone for a stroll in the lower town it should have been impossible. Even if Gwen had taken a stroll, then it should have still been very hard but Arthur wouldn't even be able to understand why Gwen would have went for a stroll. Which meant he highly doubted that Gwen had been taken hostage. Unless it had been Morgana who had taken her hostage or another magical being. Arthur sighed deeply at the thought of his evil half-sister torturing or even killing his wife. He still just couldn't grasp what had happened to Morgana as a child she has been kind and compassionate yet still determined and not easily scared by anything. The Morgana now had a heart as cold of stone though she was still as determined as before. Despite her feistiness and anger, Arthur could sense fear at times in Morgana. Arthur knew that Morgana had every right to be terrified as wherever the witch went she would be hunted. Hunted to be tortured badly before dying a lonely and painful death.

Percival looked worriedly at the expression on Arthur's face but couldn't find any words to comfort Arthur. After all he wouldn't lie to Arthur and promise that Gwen would be found and be fine. That wasn't guaranteed and Percival couldn't lie so he decide that he would just remain silent. He looked at Sir Leon wondering if he should do anything to help Arthur who was looking distraught and extremely but Leon shook his head sympathetically. What could have they have done anyway?

Crack!

Arthur turned around in the direction he had heard the noise and unsurely gasped, "Gwen?" He pointed his sword in the direction of the noise as he couldn't be too sure what was lurking out there and there was only a slim chance that it would be Gwen. Indeed Arthur right to think that there was only slim chance that it was Gwen as it wasn't Gwen. As a figure came out of the darkness, Arthur could instantly see that it wasn't his beloved but a bedraggled girl with light brown hair. Her dress must of once been magnificent but now the fine silks were torn, damp and filthy. She had no shoes on so the flesh was ripped off the bottom of her feet after a hard day of fleeing for her life. It was easier to run in bare feet than the high heels that she had been wearing at the time. With no time to change into her leather boots she had ran across rocky and sharp terrains ripping the skin of the bottom of her feet but now she could barely stand on her feet, let alone walk or run.

"My Lord," the girl stammered, looking up fearfully at Arthur. Arthur frowned for a minute recognising the girl and trying to work out who she was. Arthur and the girl had not seen each other in a number of years but beneath the layers of grim, Arthur could sense that he knew her. Then it all clicked in Arthur's brain making him look very concerned against this poor girl.

"Lady Lily," Arthur murmured in response. The girl nodded her head as to assure Arthur that she was Lily. Dismounting his horse, Arthur worriedly approached Lily.

"What happened," Arthur investigated, wondering what had happened to manage to get Lily in such a state. His father and Lily's father had been quite close friends as Lily's father had been a knight of Camelot. Lily's father had suffered from a agonising back problem and Gaius had told him that he wasn't fit to work about ten year ago. Lily and her parents therefore moved from Camelot to the very north of Arthur's Kingdom to get some well earned rest. The mansion had been Lily's father's childhood home so it seemed only sensible for them to live there.

"A massive Saxon army attacked our house," Lily almost cried in great distress. She was extremely close to her breaking point so Arthur prepared for Lily to start weeping over him. "My m-m-mother and f-father were both s-slaughtered but luckily I was taking a s-s-stroll along the road and I managed to escape. There must have been at least twenty thousand men there." Lily was just managing to hold back her tears though her lip was trembling and her eyes were full of tears.

"May I make a suggestion, sire?" Sir Leon politely asked. Arthur nodded his head mutely while putting his arm around Lily's back to steady her as she was close to falling over. "Why don't we go back to Camelot to take the Lady Lily to Gaius and while we are there we can ask if the Queen has been found, yet." Even in all the trauma she was in, Lily couldn't help listening and wondering if the Queen was lost. Arthur nodded mutely again as his throat felt too dry to speak. Taking Lily in his arms, Arthur lifted her gently onto his horse and mounted his horse after her. Soon the rain began to cascade upon them and by the time they had cantered to Camelot they were all completely drenched and frozen. It was pitch black and even the guard at the gate had trouble distinguishing who they were. When they dismounted their horses, Arthur graciously accepted Percival's offer to carry the Lady Lily up to Gaius's chambers so that he could go and check the news on Gwen. Arthur burst into the entrance hall finding Elyan in it alone looking devastated his heart skipped a beat.

"There has been no news, sire," Elyan whispered tensely. Arthur strode away not thinking where he was going but he somehow managed to incredibly end up in his chambers. Perhaps it was merely because he knew the route so well that he went automatically to his chambers. George was there so he lit fire before Arthur lost patience and yelled at George to go away. Arthur took off his chainmail and placed it in front of the fire for it to warm up and dry. He changed his other soggy clothes before going to the table and drinking goblets upon goblets of water. Grabbing his saddle bag, Arthur grabbed several apples from the bowl and put them in it. After this he hastily filled up his animal skinned water holder before corking it and placing it in his saddlebag beside the apples. Now he wouldn't have to come back into Camelot for several hours because of a need of food or water. Arthur just heard a sharp rap at his chamber door when he was crawling into his chainmail.

"Enter," Arthur ordered though his voice was rather muffled. The last thing he thought he would see was Mordred and Gwaine both drenched walking into his chambers.

"Mordred. Gwaine. Where's Gwen?" Arthur desperately questioned. Gwaine shifted forward uncomfortably getting slightly flushed.

"It's my fault Arthur," Gwaine sighed. "The Saxons have taken Gwen hostage an-"

"WHAT?" Arthur shouted in great distress. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"It wasn't my fault that the Saxons took Gwen as they would have done that anyway but I fear the next part of information I have to tell you is entirely my fault. The Saxons think Gwen is Morgana," Gwaine nervously said, looking at the floor the whole time like a naughty child getting into trouble. Mordred looked deeply into Arthur's eyes observing Arthur's emotions. Two bits of devastating news in two hours made Arthur feel the power of being king killing him. Despite the war that would be taken place very soon, Arthur felt the urge to leave his people to fight the war so that he could look for his beloved Gwen. Unfortunately things didn't work like that in Camelot as he would have to lead his men into war and not look for Gwen.

...

Gwen was somewhat comfortable when she woke. She opened her eyes trying to recall what has happened but all that came to mind was Morgana and then darkness. Covered in a few furs, Gwen tried to shove them off her but found her wrists bound together with coarse rope. The tent in which she was in was tiny but had enough room for about two people to sleep in. Next to her was a bony child no older than nine years old. He looked very underfed and unhealthy. As soon as the boy took one look at Gwen he ran from the tent to tell Chief Pierce that the witch was awake.

"Greetin's milady," said Chief Pierce in his broad accent. Gwen's heart skipped a beat when he said this. He was Saxon (his accent gave it away) and he seemed to know who she was. The way he had called her 'milady' had pretty much confirmed that. "What do you think King Gremian will give when I hand over the Lady Morgana"

"Morgana," Gwen mumbled, confused. She didn't quite get what the Saxon was meaning or why they were telling her this. "Have you captured Morgana?" Pierce cackled making Gwen feel utterly bewildered. She couldn't understand why the man had bizarrly brought up Morgana. As if Gwen would care about Morgana now that they tried to kill each other.

"I already know tha'nyou are Morgana so don't say you ain't." Gwen opened her mouth to say that she was actually Guinevere Pendragon but she quickly shut it again. What Gwen did not get was how on earth they thought she was Morgana? Gwen couldn't hide her bewilderment and this made Pierce cackle even louder. "They always said that Morgana was a good actress bu' I didn't know tha' she was this good a one. You can't fool me though because I know you are Morgana."

**Thanks for reading and please review. Reviews make me so happy guys**.


	23. The Vision

Arthur thought deeply about what he was going to do next for a couple of minutes. He truly knew what his heart told him to do but he needed to do what was best for Camelot which wasn't what his heart told him. His heart told him to rescue his beloved Gwen whereas his brain told him that he had to fight the Saxons and protect his people. It took several minutes but at last Arthur came to a conclusion of what to do.

"I have to lead my men into battle," Arthur concluded. "If I don't then we surely will lose the battle and tens of thousands of people will be killed. For those who are lucky enough to survive this slaughter will surely be enslaved. You two must go and find Gwen."

"We will," Mordred agreed. "You have made a wise decision. Gwen will be rescued, Arthur. Two knights of Camelot can easily win against those idiotic Saxons." Arthur managed to give a little smile at this, looking very grateful at both Mordred and Gwaine. His ultimate question had still not been answered so he decided to ask it.

"What were you all doing outside Camelot?" Arthur firmly asked. Gwaine left Mordred to answer Arthur's question. They obviously couldn't tell Arthur the truth about what happened, so they would either need to bend the truth about what happened or invent a believable story. Gwaine knew that if he answered Arthur's question, he would end up telling Arthur a weird unbelievable story about being abducted by aliens.

"I heard Morgana speaking telepathically to her sister in my head," explained Mordred. Gwaine frowned hoping that Mordred's story would be convincing. "They were talking about attacking the druids so Gwaine, Merlin and I set off to protect the druids. Gwen followed us so Gwaine set off back to Camelot with her. They ran into Saxons and the Saxons guessed that Gwaine was the mad knight that was in love with Morgana so they thought that Gwen was Morgana. They took Gwen away in hope that you would come and rescue her so that they could kill you. I defeated Morgana and the Druids are safe." Gwaine was amazed at how well Mordred had twisted what had happened but he couldn't understand why Morgana would attack the Druids. Luckily Arthur was too worried about Gwen to pick up on that mistake.

"Where is Merlin?" It took a while for Gwaine to think of a weird but believable explanation for Merlin's absence as Mordred couldn't think of anything.

"Merlin and Mordred found me unconscious in the wood so we were riding back... When Merlin- well he found some rare herbs that Gaius needed... So went to pick and told us to ride back to Camelot," Gwaine invented. Arthur looked in disbelief at Gwaine, making Gwaine sigh. Gwaine could not understand why no one believed his stories even when they were believable.

"I enchanted a tree to protect him," Mordred helpfully added, making the story more believable. The two knights would not leave a 'defenceless' Merlin in the dark alone without any protection. Though he didn't show it Gwaine was really angry at himself. He couldn't work out why everything he did or said went wrong.

...

As hard as Gwen tried to make up an escape plan, she failed to come up with any which would work. She needed a miracle to get through the mess that she was in, perhaps it was impossible. The bony child, which was warily watching her, looked frozen and terrified. The Saxons had mercilessly ordered him around earlier and had physically abused him if he did anything wrong. The poor boy was even afraid of Gwen, although it might have just been because he thought she was a bloodthirsty witch. Since it was pitch black and the Saxons huge snores filled the camp, Gwen decided to talk to the little boy.

"I'm Gwen," Gwen soothingly whispered. "What's your name." The boy backed away and shook his head. He looked frightened of her, making Gwen feel awful. Gwen wondered if Morgana found it hard seeing everyone being scared of her and instantly pitied her old friend. "Don't fear me. I am no witch. If I was then I would have already escaped." The boy steadily came closer to Gwen but not near enough for her to touch him. A tear trickled down his cheek which made Gwen feel even more sympathetic towards him. "Will you tell me your name now?" Gwen soothed. She immediately regretted saying that as the tears came cascading down the boys face. He opened his mouth making Gwen give a small scream of horror. The boy had no tongue. The Saxons had cut out his tongue. Gwen felt like crying her heart out for this innocent child who had probably not done anything wrong but she stopped herself. Crying never helped anything.

Suddenly the boy grabbed Gwen's wrist and pointed at what he had just wrote in the dirt with his fingers

"S. A. G. E," Gwen said, reading the letters he had engraved in the dirt. "Your name is Sage?" The boy gave a nervous nod as he was still very wary of Gwen. Gwen could understand why the child was wary of her. He had been obviously treated like dirt and tortured by all the Saxons. The Saxons would probably laugh and jeer when the poor boy tried to say something and he wasn't able to say it. Sage had probably been dragged away from his family and forced to work for the awful Saxons. No one would have been nice to him so Sage would have grown suspicious and afraid of the entire human population.

Gwen pulled the bony boy into a hug and immediately felt his muscles beginning to relax. She began to tell him the stories of her childhood. Most of them involved the long war of Morgana v Arthur when she had first met them. It has been in a playful way that Morgana and Arthur had fought the war. They had been like two constantly fighting and arguing siblings which Gwen supposed they were. The young Queen's eyes filled with tears as she remembered that Morgana and Arthur were at war with each other for real. Morgana's life ambition was to kill Arthur and claim the throne for herself. Gwen hoped that Arthur was alright wherever he was just now and would sacrifice the throne for Morgana to be the girl Gwen once knew and liked. More than ever, Gwen wanted a girl to talk to. Elvina was really nice and friendly but she wasn't quite the same as Morgana. You could be sure that if Morgana promised something, she would keep her promise. Morgana would also stand up for any of her friends and was willing to risk her life for her too. Now that Morgana had vanished and Gwen loathed the new one.

...

Morgana watched the crackling flames of the fire that she had built dying as she continued to think of her amazing plan. To be honest Morgana couldn't concentrate on her plan as she was extremely worried about Morrigan. When Morgana had arrived at her hovel, to her surprise she had found it completely deserted. Morgana had then went out to gather firewood and was getting really worried when she came back. She had already lost one half-sister and she really didn't want to lose another. Unlike her sisters Morgana wanted her half-brother dead because of his attitude towards magic. Morgana sighed deeply and felt extremely miserable. Morgana had felt like she had been trapped in a dark tunnel her whole life and now she was beginning to see the light at the end of it. Arthur's bane was clear to her and all she needed to do was convince Mordred to kill him.

Suddenly Morrigan burst through the door and looked startled to see Morgana sitting down in a chair. Morgana stood up quickly and gave the first genuine smile that she had given in years, giving Morrigan a small hug.

"Don't do that again, little sister," scolded Morgana. "I was worried about you." Morrigan returned the smile and felt happier than she had ever been in her whole life. Someone actually seemed to care about her.

"I was out hunting," explained Morrigan, holding up the rabbits and fish. Morrigan had decided to not tell Morgana about her adventure, especially the part of saving Emrys's life, as she didn't think Morgana would be too pleased. It had been a split seconds decision to save her half-brother but her allegiance was still with Morgana. Her mother's dying wish had been to find her sister so Morrigan would pledge her allegiance to Morgana. She had to fulfil her mother's dying wish. They worked well together to get the supper ready even though it was well into the night. Finally the meal was ready and two sisters sat down at the table.

"Morrigan," Morgana said, putting down her cutlery. "I think you should leave this place for a while." Morrigan frowned at this piece of news.

"Why?" Morrigan bluntly said. "I am happy and content here."

"There is going to be a massive war between the Saxons and Arthur's army," Morgana announced. "I must go to it and it isn't safe, even in this very house, for you. " Morrigan stood up to make herself look bigger and stronger (not that she was that much smaller than Morgana).

"I am not going anyway," Morrigan stubbornly argued. Laughing, Morgana stood up so that she was slightly taller than her sister. This laughter enraged Morrigan as there was nothing funny about this situation.

"When I was your age I was as stubborn as you- in fact I still am. I don't want you to get hurt as I have already lost one half-sister and would loathe to lose my other one," Morgana said. Morrigan, to Morgana's surprise, silently nodded her head. Obviously her little sister wasn't as much like her as she thought. However, Morgana should have known better, Morrigan had no plans of leaving this place and was silently thinking of a plan. "Gather up magical people as well as we are going to have peaceful protest about magical people's rights in Camelot after the Saxon battle."

"A peaceful protest," Morrigan incredously repeated. Morgana smirked, causing Morrigan to feel curious about the protest. "There's more to the plan isn't there?"

"You learn quick, little sis."

...

"Gwaine," Mordred said, before they mounted the horses to begin the search for Gwen. "I need to talk to you in private before we leave." Mordred led Gwaine Into a horse stall before enchanting it so that they would not be overheard.

"Is anything wrong my good friend?" Gwaine nervously wondered.

"No," Mordred laughed, shaking his head. "No, no. I want to know what your feelings are towards Morgana? Obviously it wasn't just by chance that the Saxons mistook Gwen for Morgana."

"I d-don't know what you m-mean," Gwaine stammered, terrified at what was going to come next.

"The Saxons are stupid Gwaine but they do not just simply guess that you are the knight whose madly in love and Gwen is Morgana," chuckled Mordred. "You can tell me, Gwaine, I won't tell anyone. I still meet up with Morgana to try and persuade her to not kill Arthur and pick on the Saxons instead." Gwaine was very embarrassed at this as he defiantly wasn't in love with Morgana.

"You've got this wrong, Mordred," argued Gwaine. "Just because I don't hate Morgana, unlike the rest of the world, it doesn't mean that I love her. It was all a joke that I love her because I was dying and wanted some fun."

"You blushing, Gwaine," Mordred teased.

"I am not," Gwaine protested.

"Whatever you say, Gwaine," chortled Mordred. "You can't hide anything from me. You might want to pick another girl, though. I mean: one- a sorceress isn't a good person to fall for in a kingdom that persecutes magical people and two Morgana hates you." Mordred went to mount his horse leaving Gwaine feeling like a hopeless idiot for the second time that day

...

Merlin slowly trudged back to Camelot still thinking about Morgana's little sister. Was it possible that she was also Merlin's half sister.

_Emrys. Emrys_, said a voice inside of Merlin's head. Merlin automatically changed his direction a walked towards where he thought the magical user was. Slowly a lone cloaked figure hobbled towards Merlin, looking warily around Merlin recognised the old man straight away.

"Taliesin," Merlin hissed. "Why did you take me to the crystal caves? Surely you would have foresaw what would have been caused by that?" Taliesin looked at Merlin rather sadly but then gave him a wise smile.

"I did foresee what would happen from it," Taliesin acknowledged. "It will help Arthur become the once and future king." Merlin looked at Taliesin extremely confused and puzzled. "I have something to show you Emrys."

"I don't want to see it," Merlin firmly snarled, turning around and striding away.

"It is a vision from the past not the future, Emrys. It is about the nameless girl, Morgana's half-sister. Her name shall be written all over the future but just now only one person knows her name."

"Is she my half-sister?" Merlin desperately questioned.

"Do you want to find out?" Taliesin asked. Merlin debated it in his head for a few seconds but concluded that it would do no harm to see the past. Merlin nodded his head, hoping that he would not regret this. "I am going to send this vision into your head, Merlin, and it will look like you are actually somewhere in the past when you are actually still here in the forest. If you want the vision to end think of the forest and the vision will end. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do," Merlin confirmed, closing his eyes firmly shut. He heard Taliesin murmur an enchantment before he felt rather cold and began to shiver. When Merlin opened his eyes, he found himself in a snow covered forest. No wonder he was frozen! Two men were talking rather loudly a couple of metres away from Merlin, so the warlock decided to try an talk to the men. Merlin clumsily fell into the men but instead of hitting them, Merlin fell right through the men like he was a ghost. This scared the warlock beyond all imagination but he was desperate to find out whether Morgana's half-sister was his half-sister.

"Ah ha I've got it now... That's a good plan actually," mumbled one of the men. "If we use a love spell on the Last Dragonlord and the sorceress so that they conceive the child then we can use the child to destroy the land of Camelot. As the child will be able to control the dragons." Merlin shook his head in exasperation; Balinor already had a son who would become a dragonlord. "What happens is a child is a girl?"

"We'll try again a year later," the other man shrugged. Realisation dawned on Merlin. Morrigan was his half-sister. He felt sickened by these two men beyond all imagination. Morrigan was the product of the love enchantment.

The scene suddenly jumped forward. Merlin was now watching his father sit on rock thinking deeply about something. Then out of the mist came a young woman who had hair as black as ebony and lips as red as blood. She was like an older version of Morgana and Morrigan although she had Morgause's beautiful chestnut eyes. It had to be Morgana's, Morgause's and Morrigan's mother, Vivienne. Merlin horrifically watched them approach each other and kiss blissfully. If Morgana had thought Gwen and Arthur were eating each other's face when they kissed, she should come an see her mother and Balinor kissing. It was all too much for Merlin to see his father looking alive and healthy while kissing a woman which he didn't love. Tears began to stream down Merlin's face.

"My love," Balinor whispered. "Come inside with me." Vivienne giggled, took Balinor's hand and followed him into the cave. Merlin had had enough and thought of the peaceful forest where he had met Taliesin. The whole vision of past vanished, leaving Merlin lying down, sobbing, in the forest just outside of Camelot's gates. Taliesin had also disappeared but Merlin didn't feel up to shouting at Taliesin. He was only fit to cry and cry Merlin did. He cried his heart out for his dead father, his poor mother, Vivienne and his long lost half-sister.

**Thanks for reading. Bit of a miserable chapter wasn't it but I had to make Morrigan be like that so that we could still get away with Mergana at the end of my story. Please review.**


	24. Tears and Tragedy

**TJTMaria- We all need to give Merlin moral support after what he has been through**

**JuniorWoofles- Thanks**

Merlin lay on the ground silently crying for at least half an hour. The young warlock didn't even move a muscle when he heard people's footsteps coming towards him. If it was Morgana approaching, he would just surrender; no fight or struggle. Merlin almost hoped it was Morgana, as he had forgotten the point of living, but knew that it revolved around the words Arthur and destiny. The word destiny only made Merlin feel worse as it reminded him of all the people he had lost and killed. Thinking of all the people he had lost was turning Merlin into a broken man. His thoughts were twisting how his mind worked, and loses he had sustained were breaking his soul. In the state he was in just now, it was hard to believe that Merlin had once been a strong man. He cried for Freya, Lancelot, Will and the numerous others he had lost. It was becoming hard for him to remember everybody that he had lost; there was too many to even count. After that Merlin cried for all the people's blood he had on his hands. There were too many people he had killed, directly and indirectly, to remember. Above all he cried for Morgana. Where was that sweet and innocent girl who would be determined to stop innocent people's blood spilling? Where was she? The girl that he missed beyond imagination was dead.

Her spirit is dead, Merlin told himself firmly. She is now a witch consumed by bitterness. Her actions are unforgivable. Even I cannot save her. I used to feel strange around her. Bring her flowers. In my old age I have become paranoid and killed too many to save Arthur's skin. I am not going to kill Morgana. I am going to save her. Forgive her. Change her forever. She may be the feisty determined sort but I don't care. I am determined too. She may have won the battle, but I will win the war!

These thoughts gave Merlin the energy to lift his head off of the earthy, pine covered ground. Seeing Gwaine and Mordred fleeing towards him, made relief flood through Merlin; the relief gave Merlin the motivation to clamber up. He wiped his reddened eyes, hoping that it wouldn't be too obvious that he had lain in pine needles and cried his heart out.

The duo of knights had been riding out to rescue Gwen when they had seen Merlin collapsed on the forest floor, crying. Exchanging worried looks, Gwaine and Mordred had unsheathed their swords and dashed towards the warlock. They were both shocked to see Merlin broken down like this as they had never even seen him release a couple of tears. Mordred was especially baffled to see, one of the most powerful sorcerers there would ever be, broken down. Merlin was such a state that Mordred wouldn't be shocked if he had lost his dearest loved one. The young knight was quite sure that Merlin had not even lost anyone just now, let alone his loved one. Mordred wasn't even sure if Merlin had someone that he really, really loved and would sell his heart too.

"Merlin, what's wrong?" gasped Gwaine. Gwaine dropped to the ground beside Merlin to see his friend's face covered in tears. Merlin offered Gwaine a small, solemn smile through tears; it was full of devastation and misery. The young warlock unsteadily stood up with a look of sheer determination on his face. Wiping the tears away with a serious look, Merlin untrustingly looked at Mordred. This untrusting look confused Mordred as he couldn't figure out what he had done to be untrustworthy. The knight assured himself by remembering that Merlin was in a state and was likely to be cold towards everyone

"I'm fine." Merlin coldly replied. Strictly speaking this wasn't true but Merlin did not want to confide Gwaine or Mordred with his problems. Words would not even explain how Merlin felt and he doubted anyone would be to understand his feelings, mind readers included. _What are you doing here?_ Merlin telepathically interrogated Mordred.

_Like Gwen, I followed you and Gwaine,_ Mordred telepathically explained. _The Saxons think that Gwen is Morgana so they have taken her hostage. We are going to rescue her and Arthur says that you have to assist Gwaine and me on this mission. I've brought you a horse._ Mordred gestured towards a bay stallion, making Merlin look more suspicious by the minute. Merlin just couldn't put his finger on how Mordred could have found him in the middle of the forest at this precise moment. He doubted it was sheer luck; luck was extremely seldom. After a long and careful think, Merlin decided to reject Mordred's suspicious suggestion of going on the mission to rescue Gwen. The warlock knew that Mordred and Gwaine were more than capable of rescuing Gwen, and he refused to believe that Arthur would send him away with the pair of knights. What would be the point of that? Merlin thought it would be more likely to be a ploy from Mordred, to keep himself out of the way, and make the druid's path clear to kill the king.

_I can't go with you, Mordred. Morgana thinks that I'm dead so she will surely try and kill Arthur. She will think that, now I'm dead, there will be nothing between her and killing Arthur._

_You must come with us Emrys or else the queen may perish._ Merlin glared at Mordred for several seconds before realising that if Mordred was Arthur's bane then Morgana wouldn't be able to kill him. If Morgana had found out that Mordred was Arthur's bane then surely she wouldn't try to kill Arthur. Merlin pondered on this thought for a minute but decided that the High Priestess's next move was completely unpredictable and decided to remain, in Camelot, with Arthur.

"I'm going to remain with Arthur," Merlin stubbornly decided, using a fierce tone that Mordred disliked. Mordred could not understand why, minute by minute; second by second, Emrys grew colder towards him. It was not like he had been doing anything wrong recently, with the obvious exception of saving Morgana's life and working for both Arthur and Morgana. He was a likeable young man and even the ladies began to pay him more attention than they did Gwaine. Though Mordred didn't realise it, the other knights were beginning to envy his closeness to the king. Luckily, the knights were too noble to admit their jealousy for Mordred and continued to treat the Druid like their brother

_Wait Emrys,_ Mordred telepathically called. Merlin, who had been about to begin the tiring journey to Camelot, glared straight at him with a steely look. Mordred shuffled his feet uncomfortably, again wondering what he had done wrong. He had to have donr something wrong for the warlock to look that coldly at him. The young knight knew that what he was about to do, was not going to help him get on better terms with the warlock. He tried to ignore this seldom but miserable feeling of being disliked. To Merlin's surprise Mordred dashed right up to him and grasped Merlin's skinny wrist.

"Acene slæp swilce cwalu," Mordred muttered under his breath. Before Merlin had time to realise it, he had fallen into a deep sleep and crumpled to the ground. Mordred just managed to catch his fellow sorcerer before he hit the ground and maimed himself.

"What have you done?" Gwaine asked in frantic tone. All of this time, Gwaine had been hovering in the background, not having clue what was going on. The two sorcerers had been looking at each other like they were having a conversation but they were not making a sound. Then Merlin had suddenly blurted out about him wanting to stay in Camelot by Arthur's side. Gwaine couldn't understand where this sudden outburst had came from as he and Mordred had not suggested that he even left Arthur's side, yet.

"It's a mere sleeping enchantment," Mordred explained in a low voice. There was something in his tone that Gwaine didn't trust, but he could not understand what. They were like brothers and Gwaine felt like he could read Mordred fairly well. Gwaine knew that Mordred was speaking in his calm voice; calm but full of evil which Gwaine didn't notice. "To keep Emrys- sorry Merlin," Mordred corrected himself. "To keep Emrys away from the gruesome battle we will give him to the Druid, Iseldir. Iseldir will take care of him and make sure that he is away from all the fighting. The battle would surely be the bane of Merlin if he was to fight in it. The warlock in indeed no warrior and, even with his great powers, would surely die." Though this reassured Gwaine, he was still sure that Mordred had a steely but triumphant glint in his aqua eyes.

The young knight stooped down to haul the lifeless Merlin up and struggled to do this. Merlin's deep sleep resembled death which made Gwaine feel apprehensive and tense. Gwaine was still unsure that Mordred had done the right thing but helped him get Merlin onto his horse. What was done was done. Gwaine knew that if there was any consequence of this they would have to cross that bridge when they got there. Perhaps the younger knight was right and this was for the best. Even still Gwaine was wary of Mordred's motives.

The two knights lifted a lifeless Merlin onto the horse and mounted their horses. They kicked their heels into the horse's flanks and set of at a trotting pace, which was not too pleasant for Merlin but he was fast asleep and couldn't notice anything.

...

Since Callolith had been taken over, Princess Mithian and her father had remained in Camelot. Arthur had insisted that they took up refuge in Camelot's castle, not that they really had a choice of where else to go. Since then Mithian had spent her days hovering around the castle and attending most important meetings. Though Camelot seemed to have danger lurking at every corner, Mithian still grew bored. She knew that she should not feel bored, Arthur always seemed to be going on quests and putting his life on the line, but Mithian couldn't wait to get out the castle. The princess was raring to do something useful in this time of need and desperately wanted round up some more of her soldiers. About a hundred troops and knights that still loyal to King Stewart and Mithian had also taken refuge in Camelot and its surrounding areas. They all managed to fit in somehow although Arthur wasn't too sure how they were managing it. Perhaps it was mix or their determination and harmony.

In this late hour of night, Princess Mithian had been woken from all the commotion of Gwaine and Mordred rushing around the castle. After that she couldn't get to sleep so went for a stroll round the castle and discovered that Arthur seemed to be in the council chambers at this hour. Princess Mithian strode into the room with a worried expression on her face as it wasn't usual for council meetings to take place in the middle of the night. Even if the Queen of Camelot was missing, Mithian could not understand what it had to do with the council members. All their faces turned to Mithian with grim expressions on them making Mithian's heart.

"What's wrong?" Princess Mithian burst out not able to restrain the question any more. Arthur had not made eye contact at all with Mithian and stared forlornly at the ground. The council members all sank back into their seats not wanting to inform Mithian the grave news. After thirty seconds or so, Arthur gazed at Mithian knowing that he could not conceal the news any longer.

"There is a large Saxon army approaching. They are only four days march from here," Arthur mumbled. Mithian didn't know if anyone else could feel it but it felt like Arthur almost wasn't here. His mind seemed to be constantly somewhere else and his eyes didn't seem to be focusing on anything. "We are greatly outnumbered but I know of allies that may help us. If I ride to meet Queen Annis th-"

"Queen Annis?" Princess Mithian abruptly injected. Arthur head slightly twitched so Mithian took this as a nod. "I have met her before so perhaps I could be of some use and go in your place." Thinking about this carefully, Arthur decided that Princess Mithian was in no greater peril in Annis's kingdom than she was here.

"I'll go with her," Sir Leon blurted out. Everyone stared in his direction shocked at the knight's attitude towards the Princess. "Forgive me," Sir Leon apologised. "I shall go with Princess Mithian so I can protect her... from the... from the evil of this world." Everybody in the council chambers began to feel awkward and uncomfortable at Leon's speech. Even Geoffrey of Monmouth felt disturbed by what the knight had said. Leon could sense everyone being uncomfortable and began to blush a deep shade of magenta.

"We shall leave with haste then," Princess Mithian decided trying her best to cover up the sticky situation. She turned on her heels before gliding out of the room. Sir Leon rose from his chair determinedly looking at a fixed point on the door, before striding out of the room after Princess Mithian.

"You majesty, I do not mean to be rude but I need to check something," Gaius humbly said from his seat in the table. He looked rather uncomfortable about this situation but carried on all the same. "How do you know that the Lady Lily was telling the truth? Twenty thousand soldiers less than a couple days march away from here?" This caught Arthur's attention and he snapped right back into action. Arthur thought from Lily's terrified face to Gaius's suggestion and knew that the physician might be right. He had just on the instant trusted Lily as they had known each other fairly well as children.

"You do not believe that she is telling the truth?" Arthur calmly asked, now completely focused on what was happening. Gaius uncomfortably looked at the ground and gave Arthur an almost apologetic look. "Speak your mind, Gaius. You are the best counsel that is available to me just now." Feeling very touched, Gaius looked up at Arthur and offered him one of seldom smiles; it was feeble but still a smile.

"I may be wrong as we have both known the Lady Lily since she was a child. She was friends with you and may others," Gaius reminded. Suddenly, Arthur managed to pick up on what Gaius was saying and felt stupid for forgotten this vital detail. When they had been children Lily and Morgana had been best friends. Arthur had remembered envying their close friendship as though he friends, he was not as close to him as Morgana and Lily were to each other. Slowly Morgana's and Lily's relationship began to fade as everyday Morgana grew closer to Gwen. Then when she was fourteen, Lily had moved away with her family and Arthur had not seen her since. These memories made Arthur more and more wary of Lily by the second. The king remembered how he had thought how Morgana and Agravaine had been friends when they had been foes, thirsty for his blood. Arthur tried to push these memories away but he couldn't.

"I may just be hasty, my lord," Gaius apologised. "But keep that in mind. I need to tend to the Lady Lily now but I'll come back as soon as I can." Arthur nodded his head to dismiss Gaius who steadily clambered onto his feet. The old physician hobbled out of the room and gave a small sigh of relief. He knew that Arthur was blind to a lot of people's faults and, though Gaius had no proof of Lily doing anything wrong, he had to remind the king to remain cautious. With a Saxon army apparently attacking; Gwen being taken hostage by Saxons; Morgana lurking in the dark and the whole population of Camelot facing extermination, Gaius knew that Arthur's mental state was facing its biggest threat yet. Most people's mental states would have broken by now but Arthur wasn't anyone and seemed to be coping quite well. Gaius could sense that Arthur was vaguely concentrating on the Saxons and could understand why, but Arthur needed to be giving the Saxons his full attention. In a couple of weeks time, Gaius could sense that a battle would rage which would determine Camelot's fate forever. If the Saxon won then the citizens of Camelot would either be enslaved or exterminated. Gaius began to wonder where Merlin was as Camelot needed the young warlock in order to survive the brutal battle that would surely occur.

...

Bang!

Gwen woke up at this loud noise and began to remember what had happened. She bolted up looking for the little boy that she had calmed the night before but could not see him. Sage had been his name and Gwen was beginning to remember the conversation that they had had as she began to properly wake up. Then everything came flooding back to Gwen and she began to pinch herself hoping that she would wake up and this would just be a nightmare. The more Gwen thought, the more that it dawned on her that this was no nightmare; it was reality. Wanting to double check it was reality, Gwen noiselessly pushed herself onto her feet and crept towards the entrance of the tent she was in. The queen pulled back the flap of the tent and peered out at the sleeping Saxons. Sage was outside stoking the fire so Gwen decided to retreat back to the furs to get some more sleep. The Saxons had stayed up late arguing and it was the early hours of the morning before they settled down to sleep. They had argued about many things but the majority of fighting had consisted of something to do with 'Morgana'. Their conflicts could be heard from miles off so Gwen could hear every word that the Saxons said, although sometimes it sounded like incoherent nonsense to Gwen because of their broad accents. The Saxons had debated between torturing Gwen up or leaving her unscathed for the moment. This conflict had gone on for well over three hours before someone came up with the idea of King Gremian wanting Morgana unscathed. They had suggested that the gold could be at stake if they tortured 'Morgana' causing an exhausted Gwen to relax and fall asleep right away.

For the next few hours Gwen came in and out of sleep as she didn't seem to notice the Saxons making a racket whist they got up and prepared for traveling. Gwen only woke up when a Saxon violently shook her awake and shouted right in her ear. This caused a flicker of fear to cross her face but it was gone as soon as it came. Unlike Morgana, Gwen did not care about showing fear; everyone showed it. The only way Morgana would show her fear would be either when she tried to manipulate someone by using it or if she was scared out of wits. Morgana did not tend to be scared out of wits except from when she saw Emrys but now the witch was not scared of Emrys as she regarded Merlin being a sorcerer a bit of a joke. After all who would suspect the clumsy and idiotic Merlin to be her doom? Morgana just couldn't get her head round Merlin being her doom.

"YOU STUPID WITCH!" roared the Saxon when Gwen stumbled up and lost her balance. She was still half asleep and couldn't think straight, let alone get up without falling over. The Saxon wrenched Gwen up by her hair and dragged her out of tent towards Chief Pierce. He chained Gwen up to his horse's bit and then the Saxons set off towards the massive army that marched on Camelot. Chief Pierce's eyes gleamed as he thought of the great reward that he would get for capturing the witch. He would get immediate retirement and never have to work another day. Everyday he would be able to participate in a leisure activity of his choice or sleep the whole day. Chief Pierce was too busy dreaming of this life to realise the stupid mistake his fellow Saxon had made.

...

The duo of knights and Merlin trotted for several hours, through fields of lush, crisp grass; steep crags (one mistake would mean certain death); murky streams and the usual forest background. Finally they reached a desolate cave which belonged to the Druids. Mordred dismounted his horse, unsheathed his sword and gently placed it on the ground. Gwaine followed Mordred suit but firmly clenched the hilt of his sword, refusing to put it on the ground.

"Put it down," Mordred softly requested, watching Gwaine's sword warily. "The Druids do not like swords or any weapons." Gwaine hesitantly placed his sword on the ground and all of a sudden felt extremely vulnerable. After all the Druids had magic to use as a weapon and if they got in a pickle, Gwaine would be completely useless and vulnerable.

"But magic is a weapon," Gwaine protested, not wanting to be parted from his weapon. The young sorcerer looked at Gwaine with interested; neither angry nor happy. He then gave a small Gwaine a little smile before it suddenly vanished.

"It can be," Mordred murmured from the depths of his heart. "Magic is neither good nor bad. It is like a medicine. Medicines can be life savers if used in the right way, but killers if used in the wrong way. I want you to understand that it is the user that is good or bad, not magic." Gwaine watched Mordred intently before the two knights gentle lifted Merlin down. The pair carried Merlin into the eerie interior of gloomy cave. It was pitch black until Mordred muttered an enchantment and a ball of light appeared. The light hovered in front of the knights, guiding them and ensuring that they did not trip over any debris or even their own feet. Eventually the duo of knights almost strode right into Iseldir, the druid leader.

"Iseldir, old friend," Mordred laughed, shaking the Druid's hand. "I thought you were a monster." Iseldir looked curiously into Mordred's eyes and then broke into small smile when he realised who it was. He could never forget that dark haired child with those huge aqua eyes.

"Mordred, how you have grown," Iseldir remarked. "But whom are your friends? Emrys and a knight of Camelot, is it?" Gwaine coughed indignantly at this remark as he wasn't just any night of Camelot. He was was the most liked by the ladies, the most handsome knight of Camelot, the knight of Camelot with the best hair, the funniest knight of Camelot, the knight of Camelot which was known for eating apples in the midst of battles, the list went on and on and on and on. Gwaine didn't think of any of his flaws but just of his perfect traits, perfect looks and perfect actions.

"It is Emrys and this is Sir Gwaine a noble knight of Camelot," Mordred said. That was more like it! Gwaine pretended to look the part of being the noble knight, although he thought he wasn't that noble. "I wish to ask you a favour. Emrys cannot fight with a sword so I wish for him to be kept safe away from the battle with the Saxons. Would you look after him?"

"Indeed I shall, but if Emrys wants to go than I shall not cause a conflict and he is free to go," Iseldir explained. He understood Mordred's plan a lot better than anyone else including Gwaine. The two knights thanked Iseldir and made their way out of the cave but before Mordred could leave he felt a voice talking inside his head. _I know your twisted revenge, Mordred, and I advise you to stop it. You shall fail and you shall pay._

...

Morgana approached Camelot's gates and although it was the early hours of the morning, she still wanted to give her dear half brother a visit. Blasting back a couple of guards, Morgana strode right through the centre of Camelot as she was no longer afraid for herself. Emrys was her doom but he was dead. She did not care if was seen as no one would be able kill her. The witch could wield steel magic as well as steel and everyone with their petty weapons were no match against her. Morgana had been growing bored today as she had made Morrigan leave in the morning to stop her from getting hurt in the Saxon wars. Not being able to wait for the massive battle to start, Morgana had decided to visit her dear half-brother and perhaps her half-sister in law too. Before Morgana realised it she was face to face with Arthur's chamber's door. Pushing it open, the witch peered through tdisco ever her brother sitting in a chair looking very grim. Morgana longed to say something along the lines of surprise but restrained it as it wasn't a very fitting thing to say to her enemy. Before Morgana had a chance to say anything Arthur noticed her presence but didn't seem to react.

"What do you want Morgana?" Arthur sighed.

**What do you want Arthur and Morgana to have a conversation about in the next chapter? Thanup you very much for reading and please review**.


	25. Make up your mind

**Since this is the 25th chapter I have put in a special Morgana scene and a Gwaine hilarious scene too (Gwapple included**),

"I wanted to inform you on some very unfortunate news, dear brother," Morgana silkily laughed. "You haven't been missing anyone recently?" Arthur's heart skipped a beat with fright and he leapt to his feet. It vigorously pounded as the adrenaline increased his anxiety. Gwen had been missing for just over a day now; a day that lasted a century. Arthur couldn't believe what he was hearing. He couldn't even believe that Morgana would hint about killing Gwen. If Arthur had heard anything about this seven years ago, he wouldn't have believed his ears. Everything had changed since then and, unfortunately, a lot of it had been for the worst.

"Yes, it's very sad to know the man that poisoned me is dead," Morgana sarcastically said. Arthur's heart skipped another beat as he heard this glorious sentence. Unless his ears had deceived him, Arthur was positively sure that Morgana had mentioned a 'man' and someone who had 'poisoned' her. As far as the king knew, he was sure his wife wasn't a man and hadn't poisoned Morgana. Though he was relieved, Arthur tried not to show it too much but Morgana seldom missed any vital giveaways so she spotted his face looking close to elation; elation that even a blind man could spot.

"Morgana, I don't understand it," Arthur stated, his voice strong but having many cracks. Morgana could sense that his voice was close to breaking and that Arthur was barely coping with Merlin and whatever else was bothering.

"You do," Morgana hissed with a cruel look upon her face. She was enjoying spectating her brother beginning to break at last. "You just don't want to admit it. You trusted him. You cared for him. How does it feel to know that he betrayed you?" This left Arthur in a state of traumatic bewilderment. He didn't have a clue to what his sister was going on about. What 'man' had 'poisoned' her? Arthur didn't even think that there would be someone he cared for that murdered in cold blood.

"Morgana, stop it," Arthur demanded. But Morgana had no plans to stop irritating and teasing her brother.

"Are you scared that best friend is going to die?" Morgana asked in mocking tone. Arthur recognised that tone as one that Morgana had used to tease him when they were mere children. Clearly, Morgana had realised her mistake as she frowned a bit at her tone of voice. The last time she had spoke like that had been during a playful taunt to Arthur whereas now she was using the tone to inflict pain and despair in him.

"Morgana, why did you do this?" Arthur softly asked, fighting to keep the tears away "Were you not content being treated like a princess? You may say that I am lying when I say this but I loved you as a sister; I still do. This is why I can't kill you. You may think love is a weakness but if I didn't love than I would rather die. I pity you. You are so alone. You shall be alone forever." Morgana chose not to enlighten him by saying she had her half-sister, a dragon and Mordred to keep her company. To be honest those words had touched her. Morgana knew the truth hurt sometimes but she couldn't understand the truth anymore. Her nemesis had touched her heart and made her feel loved. This just didn't make sense. The witch tried to push this feeling away and reassure herself by thinking that Arthur was just trying to deceive her. Yet, in the depths of her heart she knew he had not been lying.

"It is you fault that I suffer," Morgana retaliated. "You would have slaughtered me if you knew the truth." At this a tear of sorrow began to trickle down Arthur's cheek. Surely Morgana didn't believe her own words. He had a feeling that she had precisely weighed each word and made sure she had the exact definition to fit the context. The word "slaughtered" had been particularly hurtful for Arthur to hear.

"Nowadays you ally with sorcerers," explained Morgana. Arthur wanted to ask what she was raving on about but his throat was too dry to utter a word. "I mean Emrys, you know that old man with the long white beard and hair and dazzlingly blue eyes, you allied with him. You chose a stranger above your own sister. He is your best friend but you thought he was a stranger." Arthur was beyond perplexed and seriously worried about his sister's mental health. Since when had he allied with sorcerers? Since when had his best friend become a stranger? Arthur didn't know if Morgana was getting completely deranged because of her loneliness or if he was just being hopelessly stupid.

"Ally with sorcerers," Arthur repeated incredulously. Morgana smirked at this managing to wash away her earlier conflict

"Yes, genius. Ageing spells can be very useful. I mean the two have an uncanny appearance. Think about it."

"Who is it?" Arthur wondered out loud at last. "None of my friends are missing."

"WHERE'S MERLIN?" raged Morgana slamming her fist on the table.

"I don't know," Arthur decided, trying to cover up his friend's existence. He realised that Morgana would hunt his friend down to try and destroy him.

"Good!" Morgana exclaimed, picking a grape up and biting into it with vigour. She had almost thought that Emrys had managed to escape from her wrath (again), unscathed (again)!

"Merlin is deceased. I killed him with hemlock. He tried to kill me with it before but fortunately my half-sister came to the rescue. I would have died because of him," Morgana coldly said. "Now where is Gwen?"

Arthur's jaw feel open as he thought of a suggestion to say for Gwen's absence. He just hoped that Mordred and Gwaine had been right in saying that Merlin was alive. The more Arthur thought about it, the more he would suspect that Mordred and Gwaine had been lying. After all, the duo of knight may have not of chosen to inform him in the death of Merlin because the vast battle that was dawning.

"Guinevere is indisposed. I have sent her away because of the war and I am not going to tell you where she is." Morgana grabbed an apple from the bowl and impatiently tossed it from hand to hand, deciding what to do next.

"I was just wanting to have a nice talk wi-"

"NO MORGANA!" Arthur shouted. "I do not trust you and why would I give confidential information to my sworn enemy? You seek her and I dead." Morgana shot him daggers before she strode out the room.

"And Morgana," Arthur laughed. "You have been spending too much time with Gwaine. You have chosen the exact same fruit that Gwaine would have done." Morgana banged the door shut and almost strode into Gaius.

"Good morning, Gaius," Morgana greeted. "Arthur and I were just remising about old times." Gaius raised an eyebrow and watched the high priestess trudge away before entering Arthur's chambers. He was surprised to see Arthur sitting up healthy and alive.

"Is everything alright, sire," Gaius questioned. Arthur was too deep in thought about Merlin. Then he realised something. The king began to fit the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together and then slapped his teary face in frustration. It wasn't completely clear but Morgana had hinted it enough for him to realise what it was. What was he going to do. The king knew that Merlin could be dead.

...

Merlin woke up roughly twelve hours after Mordred had enchanted him. As he woke up and his blurred surroundings became clear shapes in his mind, Merlin began to wonder where he was. It was a dreary room lined with dim torches. It seemed to consist of numerous rocks and nothing else apart from the blanket that lay on top of Merlin. Merlin gave a huge yawn and sat up stretching his back as he had not been sleeping in a comfortable position at all.

"Hello?" Merlin mumbled, his voice reverberating around the room. "Hello? HELLO?" Merlin tried again hopeful that someone would come rushing to his aid, but no one did. The young warlock slowly crept out the room wondering who he would find.

"Emrys, you're awake," came a voice from the corner of the next room. Merlin looked up, relieved to see that it was only Iseldir talking to him.

"Why am I here?" Merlin inquired rather loudly. Iseldir took a couple of steps forward while Merlin impatiently waited for the answer.

"Young Mordred wanted you to permanently stay here until the wars with the Saxons are over. Him and Sir Gwaine took you here," Iseldir wisely replied. Merlin gazed up at him and realised what was young warlock knew that Mordred was destined to kill the king so obviously Mordred had locked him here to prevent him from getting his path to kill Arthur.

"I need to save Arthur's life," called Merlin darting out of the cave. This didn't surprise Iseldir as the bond that the pair had was stronger than Iseldir had ever heard of between a king and a servant.

Merlin began to sprint towards Camelot but without a horse it could take him more than a day to get back to Camelot without any major distractions. His pace slowed gradually to a jogging and then to such a slow pace he was trudging back to Camelot. Who knew what Mordred or Morgana would have in store for Arthur?

Suddenly, Merlin began to hear leave rustling in front of him so he dived behind the bush to his immediate. Out the corner of his eye he saw a Morgana strolling in the opposite direction of Camelot. This surprised Merlin because he thought the witch would be trying to murder Arthur.

In a split second Merlin darted out the bush and pulled Morgana's arm from behind her. The witch acted swiftly, instinctively using magic against whoever was had given her fright. Merlin promptly reacted too and put up a force field to answer Morgana's spell. The witch turned around and her mouth opened in shock.

"Merlin?" she whispered so quietly that he struggled to hear her. Merlin raised his eyebrows trying to give her a superior look that curdled her blood. Merlin didn't know why he was acting so strangely (first reaching out for her hand and now trying to look superior) but he presumed that it had something to do with Morgana almost murdering him. The young warlock didn't get how grabbing Morgana's arm was related with revenge and anger but he dismissed it.

"It is me, idiot," Merlin chuckled trying to get himself back into character. "Did you really expect the most powerful sorcerer in the world to be killed by you!" A tinge of pink appeared in Merlin's pale cheeks and he took a step back in embarrassment. He didn't normally show off but that was what he was doing. Was he just trying to frighten Morgana? The warlock didn't think so. He also didn't understand where the embarrassment came from. Was it really that normal for people to behave like this to their nemesis's?

Morgana seemed to notice Merlin's strange mood and was unsure whether to just murder him or not. Yet, a strange feeling infested her too and prevented her from killing him. The whole situation felt extremely awkward between them. Morgana was extremely afraid of not wanting to kill her destiny and doom. She couldn't understand what was happening to her. Merlin couldn't understand what was happening to himself either.

Morgana ended the perplexing silence by saying, "How did you manage it?" Merlin immediately relaxed into his normal self but he still didn't have a clue about what had just happened.

"For me to know and you to find out," Merlin said, firmly deciding against telling Morgana that it was their half-sister who had saved him. "I would prefer if you didn't find out." Morgana gave a small laugh at this but shortly cut it off, feeling more embarrassed than Merlin. She felt like an idiot. Who laughed at their nemesis's jokes? Who laughed at their destiny and doom.

Merlin's eyes narrowed at Morgana and her cheeks glowed scarlet in embarrassment. The warlock began to wonder this place was cursed. Since when had Morgana laughed normally and not out of cruelty. Merlin had never seem Morgana blush before even when she had been good. Neither of the pair could understand what was going on and both of them wanted to run but their determination got the better of them.

"Emrys," Morgana called. Merlin's stiff tendons relaxed at this. Morgana hadn't called him Merlin in years either using 'servant' or now 'Emrys'. "Emrys, what do you want with me?" All the awkwardness had now vanished and was now replaced with intensity. Merlin preferred the intensity by a long way but could tell that Morgana still wasn't her usual self. The Morgana that he had knew would have tried to have murder him straight away. Perhaps Morgana was on the path back to redemption.

The sorcerer could tell that Morgana was frightened out her wits. Merlin heart wanted to reassure her and promise her that he wouldn't do anything to hurt her but his brain refused. After all, it would most likely be a lie.

"Morgana, the only thing I want with you is to stop trying to kill Arthur and Gwen and stop trying to take over Camelot." Morgana looked at Merlin intrigued but slightly relieved. She couldn't believe her ears. The witch thought Merlin would have spat in her face that he wanted her dead but she didn't.

"Alas, I have stopped trying to kill Arthur and Gwen. Ask Gaius he'll confirm it. I do still have a desire to become queen of Camelot and to stop me you will have to either kill or imprison me." This was half the truth as Morgana was indirectly trying to get Arthur killed by converting Mordred to her side. She wasn't going to downright lie about taking over Camelot as she knew that Merlin would never believe her in a thousand years.

"Morgana." It was now Merlin's turn to speak so quietly it was just audible. "Morgana it's not too late for redemption but it soon will be." The priestess knew it was a gesture to switch sides but she was more conflicted than usual.

"I can't Merlin," Morgana sighed at last. Merlin blushed a little as she used to actual name again.

"Can't or won't," injected Merlin.

"I can't. Arthur kills my kin so I have to everything in my power to save them," Morgana said, staring sadly at the ground. "Besides no one would forgive me as they all want me burnt at the stake."

"I don't," Merlin quickly blurted out. He looked very shocked at his sudden outburst and blushed again. "I mean a lot of people don't. Gwaine doesn't and nor does me, Arthur, Gwen or Gaius." Morgana looked at him with further interest. Merlin didn't understand this meeting at all. Morgana was completely out of character and was treating him like a friend.

"Thanks," Morgana smiled. The smile was perhaps small and weak but it was real. Then as soon as it came it vanished. "This was just a moment of weakness Emrys. Do not expect this much kindness next time I see you." With this Morgana strode away leaving Merlin disappointed. He thought that the witch was beginning to redeem herself but he should have realised that it was too out of 'evil' Morgana's character to be true.

...

"You don't have any apples on you?" wondered Gwaine, riding his bay horse beside Mordred.

"NO," Mordred yelled. "You ate them all early this morning. That is the thirty seventh time you've persistently asked me this in the past hour hour." Gwaine looked at the ground disappointed for the thirty seventh time in the past hour.

"You should have packed more apples, Mordred," Gwaine sadly said. Mordred looked at Gwaine extremely frustrated at his friends very annoying behaviour.

"I packed three apples each and that should have lasted us three days. Not five minutes when I went to collect fire wood. You ate my three apples as well," protested Mordred. He didn't really care too much about Gwaine eating all the apples but he did care about having some peace and quiet.

"Did not," laughed Gwaine

"Did."

"Didn't."

"Did."

"Didn't."

"If you don't shut up, I'll tell everybody who your girlfriend is," chortled Mordred. Gwaine rolled his eyes and felt like galloping off. That had only ever been a joke. Or had it? Perhaps he liked her a little. A little bit more. A lot. Gwaine shook this feeling from him and groaned.

"I don't have a girlfriend," Gwaine grumbled. Now it was Mordred's turn to laugh.

"You do. Remember her name is Morgana other known as 'my favourite damsel in distress' by you," chortled Mordred, taking a swig out of his water fur. Now he could get some revenge for Gwaine annoying him twenty-four seven.

"Is Morgana really a damsel in distress?" wondered Gwaine his mouth wide open. "I thought everyone thought she was a witch with no feelings?" The sorcerer coughed to cover his laughs but it didn't work very well. Gwaine looked stressfully at other knight trying to work out what was funny as he had only asked two simple questions.

"I'm sorry," Mordred apologised still laughing. "You sounded like a naïve five year old; you are a naïve five year old. Only you think she is a damsel in distress, I think she is a witch with some feelings and the rest of the world thinks she is a witch with no feelings. You do love her though. You as good as admitted it."

"That was just for for fun," protested Gwaine urging his horse into a trot. Mordred kicked his heels in making his horse go on after his fellow knight.

"She is you girlfriend," Mordred persisted, a gleeful smile upon his face.

"No she isn't."

"Is"

"Isn't."

"Is."

"We nearly there," Gwaine pointed out. "The Saxon camp can't be longer than an hour away." Mordred put a rather large smile upon his face but said nothing.

"What is it?" Gwaine worriedly asked.

"You attempt to try and get out of the topic of conversation was not sly," Mordred murmured. As Gwaine sighed at Mordred's reply, a plan began to form in his head. The more he thought about the more he knew that it had the potential to end the bloodshed. Of course like most plans it could go disastrously wrong.

"Mordred. I've got a plan..."

...

After she had seen Merlin, Morgana grew more and more frustrated by the minute. Firstly, she was in a tetchy mood because of the awkward meeting that she had had with Merlin. The witch's mood became more and more unpleasant by the minute. It erupted into anger when Morgana figured out she had nothing to do except from wait to find out the outcome of the battle. Wanting to fight, Morgana grew furious as she knew she couldn't. It would be suicidal even for someone with her powers to go into the middle of a battle where both the sides wanted to kill her. Now she waited with bated breath for the outcome. Morgana waited... waited.. and waited in her house but grew impatient.

Kicking the chair she was lounging in aside, Morgana fastened on her travelling cloak with the flared sleeves. Being patient and sitting down wasn't something that Morgana was good at although she was improving. At times like this the priestess needed something to occupy her mind. The ideas that she had just had was risky but stop the next week, or however long, being boring.

Once she had securely fastened her cloak, Morgana strode to the white stallion which she had tethered up by her hovel. Adjusting it's girth, she put her foot in its stirrup and flung herself up onto the leather saddle. Morgana gathered the reins in her hands, kicking her heels into the horse's flanks. The horse reared before setting off at a full fledged gallop. This happened to be Morgana's favourite gait as they reached their destination in two hours. Morgana drew her horse to a halt right in front of King Gremian and began to keep up the act of what King Gremian thought. King Gremian thought she was a madly in love witch so that is what she'd act as.

"GREMIAN!" Morgana yelled, the blood boiling in her though she was as calm as sleeping person. "HOW DARE YOU IMPRISON MY TRUE LOVE!"

All Morgana heard was 'seize her!' before she was knocked off her horse and blindfolded. She hid a small smile which was threatening to appear on her face. Though she wasn't really pleased about some torture that she was about endure, her plan was making progress.

"Fancy seeing you restrained AGAIN!" said a mocking voice. The witch knew who this voice and almost wish that she had not come up with this stupid plan. "You what, my lady? This time I have a proper plan on how to thwart King Gremian. You don't have an apple on you do you? I am suffering from apple withdrawal symptoms." For the next hour Morgana was persistently pestered (a hundred and thirty-nine times to be exact) for apples. After that the witch collapsed and was slapped a few times but didn't care. What had she signed herself up to?

**This is going to be different from last time as both Morgana and Gwaine are intentionally in this position. Please review**.


	26. Applesia

**Dawn Ruthless- Yeah, it's gonna be totally Mergana sometime soon but I'm still playing around with Morwaine just now. Thanks.**

**Jedimasterawesome- Yes, imprisonment does seem to fill up Morgana's calendar, especially when there is Gwaine there to reassure/annoy her. Gwapple and Mergana is legend. Gwaine and Morgana is definitely my guilty pleasure too and I might play around with it for a little longer because it is really fun to right. Thanks**

**Junior Woofles- Thanks. Yay! Mergana and Gwapples for the win.**

"Why is it that you are always in prison or in chains, my lady," wondered Gwaine aloud. Morgana was trembling from the vile spring wind so wrapped her arms round her knees to try and warm up. Gwaine was still standing up next to her. The knight was merely bored and would be on the move if he wasn't restrained.

"Why do you think, sir knight?" Morgana asked. Shrugging, Gwaine forgot about Morgana being blindfolded. "Perhaps because I break the law more times than I can count a day." Gwaine began to kick the ground and managed to shower the witch with a pile of dirt. Reacting swiftly, Morgana turned around and hacked at Gwaine's ankles.

"Ow... Stop it," Gwaine moaned, his eyes watering with tears. Morgana, for once, obeyed because she did not want to waste any more energy on idiots.

"You got no less than you deserved," Morgana explained, deciding not to bring up the 'a' word. She had rather liked apples before an hour ago but, now, had sworn to never eat another apple again.

"Morgana, Mordred thinks your a damsel in distress because you have lost your kindness and compassion," Gwaine explained in the most confusing way. "I called you a witch with some feelings but Mordred insisted upon you being a damsel in distress and you don't argue with Mordred. If you do argue with him then he will throw a ball of fire at you." Morgana had never liked it when anyone exaggerated anything so much that it became ludicrous and unbelievable. She had always knew there was a boundary with sarcasm and exaggeration; it ought not to be crossed unless you were mocking someone. Remembering it was Gwaine making up this preposterous nonsense, Morgana didn't complain about his unbelievable exaggeration.

"Tell whoever said I had lost my kindness and compassion that love still fills my heart," Morgana ordered.

"Who do you love then, Morgana?" Gwaine questioned with a crooked smile upon face. Morgana frowned from underneath the blindfold. What kind of question was this? The answer was completely obvious. She had been to busy to even think about anybody other than herself, the young dragon, her sister and Mordred. Although Mordred was a boy, Morgana knew she would never regard him as being her lover.

The witch felt a lump in her throat for some unexplainable reason and her stomach churned. Feeling light headed Morgana flopped onto her back. She was feeling extremely nauseous and not at all good in any shape or form. Worst of all Morgana couldn't figure out what had happened as it all vanished within a split second and she felt her usual self again. Gwaine mistook this all for some dramatic emotional breakdown.

"I know who you love," Gwaine announced. "You love Merlin. I mean the witch and warlock- don't you think it sounds epic?"

"I think Gwaine and silence sounds epic," Morgana hissed. She spoke the words softly and somehow linked them together. There was something about the tone that made Gwaine want to obey it for a split second but his jokey personality got the better of him.

"Your blushing," Gwaine laughed. Morgana placed her hands on her cheeks unsure whether to believe him or not. Yet, she still managed to keep calmer than Gwaine could ever hope to be.

"I think if you replace the 'v' in love with an 'ath' then it would make sense," Morgana coldly snapped. Gwaine frowned at the sudden change in Morgana's tone of voice but hastily shook this feeling from him. Now was not the time to worry about Morgana's sudden outburst. No, he had more pressing matters to think about such as his plan which would most likely become a half baked disaster.

"Y'know what, Morgana. I change my mind about you being a witch with some feelings. You are a witch with one feeling. Hatred coarses through you. This hatred causes you to always talk with vigour. It makes you always wear the same look of anger and frustration. You know that whatever you do Merlin will thwart you. This causes you to walk- stride with hatred, dream with hatred, think with hatred even... even eat... with er hatred." Gwaine's jaw dropped in surprise as he muttered the last phrase.

"How do you eat with hatred?" Morgana incredulously asked. Gwaine shot her a superior look and raised an eyebrow. He still couldn't understand how that slightly absurd suggestion had come out of his brain.

"You eat violently," Gwaine awkwardly said. "You know... big bites." Gwaine again looked surprised by his own remark as it sounded like something Merlin would say.

Morgana threw her head forward in despair; she had not bargained for any of this. It was more than the priestess felt like she could bear. Life just wasn't fair, especially to her. At a young age Morgana had lost the man whom she had presumed to be her father and has been forced to come to Camelot. Morgana had suffered from terrible nightmares since before she could remember and truth about these nightmares had taunted her for ages. Then magic had extraordinary bursted out of her and she had feared for her life. After this Morgana realised that the route she had take to save her kin would put her mortal danger but the witch had vowed not to give up.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Gwaine yelled. This bewildered Morgana because his screams had seemly come out of the blue. Her blindfold prevented her from seeing the two Saxon guards which were approaching with their swords unsheathed.

"SHUT UP SLAVE!" the dark haired guard roared at Gwaine. Gwaine's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he watched the guards trudge to towards Morgana. The guards noticed that the knight was watching them intently so they aimed a kick at his shins. Luckily, with all his training, Gwaine's reactions were swift and he manage to dodge the kick. The guard stubbed his toe of the ground and cursed loudly. Suddenly, he then jolted around, roughly grabbing Morgana. This took Morgana by surprise and she jumped a little at his sudden threatening movement.

"Hurry up," ordered the dark haired guard. The other guard collapsed on the ground beside Morgana and extracted a small vial from his pocket.

"What am I meant to do?" the other guard stupidly inquired. The dark haired guard rolled his eyes at this remark and pinched his own nose. Gwaine, who was still watching the guards very closely, glowered at them but he could not understand what the guards were doing. Impatiently, Morgana waited for either the guards to drag her away or for them to abuse her in some way. Nothing happened as far as she was concerned but the guards were gesturing to each other. The blindfold prevented Morgana from witnessing their gesture but Gwaine was watching them more carefully than a hawk would watch its prey. Still Gwaine was ignorant to what the two guards were mining out to each other. Finally the guards got down to action and to Gwaine's shock one of guards tipped Morgana's head back a pinched her nose. At this Morgana kicked out in shock because she couldn't understand what was going on.

"WATCH OUT MORGANA!" warned Gwaine but it was too late. One of the guards literally wrenched Morgana's mouth open and poured the liquid from vial in. Once he done this, the guard put his hand on top of the sorceress's mouth. Morgana and tried to spit out the concoction. After all the likeliness of the liquid being either poisonous or harmful was dangerously high. As hard as Morgana tried, she couldn't manage to get rid of all of the liquid in her mouth. The priestess managed to spit out half of the liquid but was then forced to instinctually gulp the rest of the solution down as she needed to breathe to survive. As soon as Morgana swallowed the concoction the two guards released her and backed off before the witch could even try to bring it back up. The fact that she had swallowed the unidentified concoction frightened Morgana. She desperately tried to bring it back up but she was too late; it was long gone.

Clambering to her feet, Morgana nearly fell back down on the ground. Gwaine wanted to help her up but he couldn't as his hands were chained behind his back. On her third attempt, Morgana finally managed to stagger to her feet but she still swayed. The sorceress found it extremely hard to balance and was having trouble staying on her. Although Gwaine found this hilarious, he was too concerned about what might have been in the liquid to laugh.

"'Watch out,'" Morgana repeated at last. "With this on how am I meant to see anything but darkness? My blood is curdling with anger because of you." Gwaine looked at the ground like a five year old would when they got into trouble.

"What have you been drinking Morgana?" Gwaine chuckled. Morgana gave him her ultimate death stare but Gwaine just laughed. "Morgana, Morgana... What am I going to do with you? You never learn. You may be a hundred times powerful than I will ever be but I am not scared of you. Fear doesn't get you anywhere. It is important to be cautious at times but not fearful."

"You are too bold for my liking, sir knight," Morgana whispered. Gwaine put on his most stupid smile and raised an eyebrow making him look somewhat superior. Narrowing her eyes, Morgana couldn't understand where Gwaine's courage came from. He smiled at her after she told him that he was too bold. What was the meaning of this?

"And you aren't bold enough, my lady," Gwaine added. "Your hatred is driven by fear and that is why I can still talk to you after everyone that you have slaughtered. I pity you. You were once so kind so compassionate and now you are just... corrupted beyond repair."

Suddenly Morgana lost her balance and fell onto the ground. She tried to haul herself up but she drastically failed. Morgana knew that the liquid that they had force fed her must of taken control of her body but she didn't have the energy to do anything. She felt extremely faint and nauseous but lay there on the ground not moving a muscle.

"Go home Morgana," Gwaine advised. "You're drunk." Underneath it all Gwaine really knew what had happened to Morgana but he didn't want to admit it to himself.

"Lelp knee, dewrain," mumbled Morgana. For most people, this would just be incoherent nonsense but Gwaine managed to make sense of it. He turned around in fury to the guards, rage surging through him. Fortunately, Morgana muttered some more incoherent nonsense but this time Gwaine couldn't make sense of it. It prevented him from acting rashly and instead he worriedly fell onto the ground beside Morgana.

"It's alright," Gwaine reassured her, unsure of what else to say. "It'll just be a concoction to put you into a deep sleep. After all you are a witch and they need to prevent you from using magic." Soon after Gwaine said this Morgana's eyes began to droop and closed. She fell back into a lying position and didn't move a muscle. Gwaine sighed in relief as Morgana seemed to be unscathed and in a deep sleep. The knight didn't know of the psychological terror that Morgana was facing at that very moment.

...

Arthur drummed his fingers impatiently on the table. His scouts had just updated him on how close Gremian's men were. Arthur had to admit that they were approaching Camelot at alarmingly fast pace and the king felt like he could not stay put for any longer. It taken time for the conflicted king to decide what to do but a battle plan formed in his head. He detested even the very thought of the battle that was about to commence. There was going to be a vast amount of bloodshed. He knew that losing the battle was almost certainly going to happen.

Just a couple of hours ago, Arthur had summoned Gaius, Percival and Elyan up to his chambers to tell them of his final battle strategies. The king had decided to hide half of his army in the woods behind the castle and leave the other half of the army in the citadel. Arthur would then wait for Gremian's army to start attacking Camelot before he attacked them with the army hiding in the forest. Although this was a good plan, Arthur knew he was 'playing a dangerous game' (he had been reminded several times by Gaius). If Gremian's men even got the slightest scent of them hiding in the forest then Camelot would be doomed.

Arthur had decided to make Elyan and Percival in charge of the citadel's army while he led the army outside of the city. He wished that the rest of knights and Merlin could have been here to support him but the king knew that they were doing very important tasks which could alter the outcome of this battle. The battle that Arthur knew that not even in a thousand years he would be ready for.

...

Chained behind a wagon, Gwaine stumbled along forced either to walk or be dragged along. The knight was getting increasingly worried about the chances of his plan failing. For starters Morgana was very likely to get in the way of his plan and Gwaine couldn't bare if Morgana died of his behalf. There was also loads of major repercussions that he could face if the knight successfully managed to complete his plan. He knew he had make his plan work or else die trying. This may have been harsh but Gwaine knew what was at stake if his plan failed. He'd have to keep going.

After a while Gwaine grew bored of just trudging along behind the wagon; no one paying attention to him. When he tried to talk to anyone, they would just ignore him. To be honest Gwaine missed annoying Morgana most of all. He found it extremely hilarious to get Morgana worked up about nothing. Since Gwaine was bored and had no one to annoy, he decided to plonk his bottom on the ground and refuse to walk any further. To make this act more tragic and exciting, Gwaine decided to start rolling on the ground to feign dying. By refusing to walk Gwaine managed to slow the pace of the wagon. Soon the Saxons came over to Gwaine to investigate the problem.

"I'm dying," Gwaine pathetically moaned restraining a laugh. Cautiously, the Saxons approached the knight and pointed their weapons at him.

"Our money," a Saxon gasped. "A thousan' gold coins gone. The knigh' can't die 'cause it't jus' a waste of the gold we could get."

The Saxon beside him nudged him and said, "I don't think 'e's dying. 'E is more heartbroken 'cause 'is girlfrien' will die or sumthing. The stupid knight is jus' worried abou' 'is girlfrien'."

"IF YER DYING! THEN WE WILL KILL YER GIRLFRIEN'!" roared the cleverest Saxon. Fortunately, even the cleverest in this particular group of Saxon was not particularly bright,

"I am not dying," Gwaine hastily said very quickly. He also sat up to show the Saxons that he was not scathed or ill in the slightest. "I am just suffering from applesia."

"Wha' sor' of disease is applesia?" the clever Saxon asked.

"Isn't it obvious," wondered Gwaine. "It's when the human body begins to shut down because it hasn't had enough apples. Applesia is effecting me because I haven't had an apple in over four hours!" Gwaine hid a small chuckle caused by the Saxons' horrified faces. It wasn't as good as a reaction he'd get from Morgana but Gwaine was still having the time of his life.

"MOVE!" the cleverest Saxon ordered. "If you don't we will kill yeh an' yer girlfrien'." Gwaine thought about it for a minute before shaking his head and giving the Saxons a rather crooked smile.

"You will not kill me or Morgana. If you do you will lose two thousand gold coins," laughed Gwaine. He winked at the Saxon before climbing onto the wagon to check Morgana's pulse and see how she was. His heart leapt a mile when he could feel the slow faint beats in Morgana's pulse. Feeling how Morgana's cold Morgana was, the knight covered her in furs which were on the other side of the wagon.

"Where was I?" Gwaine frowned springing down from the cart. "Em... If you kill me and Morgana then your king will kill you. Gremian requires me and Morgana to lure Arthur into a trap." All of the Saxon's mouths dropped open at this and Gwaine's smile became even more radiant and joyful.

"Boss, 'e does 'ave a point yeh know," mumbled a Saxon to the clever Saxon

"YER WEREN'T MEANT TO TELL 'IM!" yelled the Saxon leader. Patches of his face were becoming blotchy because all the commotion he had landed himself was stressing him out.

"Perhaps if you were to give me an apple or two, three, four or even five I would be more willing to move," suggested Gwaine. He then slumped back down onto the ground and violently shivered. The further they got north; the colder it became. Soon, the group would have travelled north enough to come across snow. Although Gwaine did not know exactly were they we're travelling to, he wondered why? Obviously King Gremian would need them at the battlefield. After all the whole point of imprisoning them was to force Arthur to give up Camelot and his army. This act was cowardly but the best way to win the battle.

For an hour Gwaine sat on the hard ground refusing to move an inch. The Saxons were at a loss for what to do. They needed to get to Gremian's fortress but if Gwaine couldn't move than it would be impossible, King Gremian had shouted at everyone to only give the potion to witch as it would kill everybody else. The Saxons had no intention on losing any money or indeed their heads so that was not an option.

After another hour of waiting, the Saxon's decided to resort to their final plan. This plan consisted of literally dragging Gwaine along. Of course Gwaine had no intention of being dragged along so he stood up and walked behind the wagon. Basically two hours had been wasted when the problem could have been solved by the Saxons not even paying attention to what Gwaine was doing. The knight laughed at the stupidity of the Saxons as he sauntered along behind the wagon. Wondering what other commotion he could cause, Gwaine had another brilliant idea.

...

As Merlin frantically rode back to Camelot, something began to prey on his mind. It came to a point where he just couldn't ignore this irritating feeling so the young warlock reined his horse in to a halt.

" O Aithusa, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!" Merlin fiercely called. He impatiently waited until he saw a dot in the distance coming towards. Then Merlin swiftly dismounted his horse to see Aithusa swooping towards him and landing gently on the ground.

"What is it Emrys?" Aithusa viciously snarled. Merlin was startled by her fiery personality and vicious actions. He took a couple of steps back from the apparently unstable dragon and grimaced at Aithusa.

"I want you to promise me that you will take care of Morgana," Merlin firmly ordered. Aithusa flapped her wings in surprise at the young warlock's command. Out of all the things she had been summoned for, Aithusa had not expected it would be for this.

"I will do all it takes to keep Morgana alive," promised Aithusa. "It is my duty; the reason I was born. But why do you ask this favour? You hate her." Merlin uncomfortably shuffled his feet trying to think up a suitable explination to answer this. Aithusa was right how could he one minute hate Morgana and then be asking for her to be kept safe from all harm. As Merlin paused, at loss for what to say, the young dragon gazed at him in disbelief. Aithusa just couldn't put her claw on why Merlin had asked her to protect the last high priestess. It neither made sense nor added up to anything.

"You are wrong Aithusa. I have never hated her; I could never hate her. True, she does try to kill and all my friends but I don't hate her. She does what she thinks to be right. I don't want her dead, I..." Merlin hesitated for a minute staring at the ground with a melancholy look upon his face. "I just want her to become the person that I once knew." Unexpectedly, fire shot out of Aithusa's mouth aiming straight for Merlin. Merlin rose his hand in defence and managed to block the fire with a magical force field. Then Aithusa began to approach Merlin with a bloodthirsty look upon her face.

"Nun de ge dei s'eikein kai emois epe'essin hepesthai!" commanded Merlin. "Why do you do this?" Aithusa pitifully cowered back a couple of steps, the rage still seething through her. She sorrowfully looked at the ground and spread out her wings.

"With you alive the old ways cannot be restored," growled the young dragon. "Arthur shall never bring about an age of magic. That is just myth and that is all it ever will be. Morgana will bring back the ways of the Old Religion." Abruptly, Aithusa took off and soared away into the sky leaving Merlin extremely upset. After all he had saved and hatched the egg which had become this savage but pitiful creature. It was all his fault.

Mounting his horse, Merlin remembered the rush he was in so he clicked his tongue and kicked his heels into the horses side. Soon they were galloping through the narrow gaps in between the trees. Although the poor horse couldn't go any faster, Merlin kept on urging him on even faster. Merlin now feared for his life at the speed they were going at but the great sorcerer kept on pressing on.

Finally when night had truly arrived, Merlin galloped across the bridge as fast as lightning. The guards tried to stop him but they couldn't. Merlin was nearly flung off the horse when he drew it to a sudden halt. He leapt off the horse and didn't bother untacking it or anything. Basically, Merlin just released the horse on the loose and hoped that it wouldn't go on the rampage and disturb anyone. He set off at a full fledged sprint to the King's chambers but surprisingly didn't encounter any guards or knights; perhaps they were busy preparing for the battle. Literally, Merlin wrenched the door to Arthur's chambers off it's hinges when he opened it.

"ARTHUR?" Merlin shouted. Arthur's chamber were deserted and the fruit was in the early stages of begining to not be edible. The warlock turned around to see Gaius sauntering into the chambers.

"Merlin?" Gaius gasped. "Where have you been? The quest was only meant to last a couple of days."

"Long story. Where's Arthur," Merlin hurriedly inquired. Gaius raised his eyebrow and looked stressfully into Merlin's eyes. Merlin could barely take the apprehensive long pause that Gaius made.

"Arthur's gone to battle but before you go after him promise me that you'll be careful," Gaius warned.

"You know me, Gaius. I'm always careful," Merlin replied. Striding over to Gaius, Merlin swiftly embraced him before striding out of the room.

...

Her body was numb and she wanted to move. She couldn't. It was psychological hell. She was forced to gaze at the same things for hours and wasn't able to close her eyes. This was a totally new sensation; a sensation that she never wanted to feel again. It was a frustrating sensation. It was a annoying sensation. It was a sensation which had almost scared the life out of her. At first she had wondered if her body was in the process of shutting down. It would have to be a very slow death as she did not feel any worse than she had been a couple of hours ago. Yet, she was still scared. She was going to carry on fighting. It was in her blood. She was a born fighter and nothing in the whole of the world could change that!

**Thanks for reading. Please review**.


	27. The 'small cut'

**Guest- I am defiantly going to say I'm suffering from Applesia next time I want to get out of something.**

**Jedimasterawesome- Yeah Merlin is so ignorant to the fact that he's in love with Morgana. It is frustrating to write.**

**serenityskywalker- Thanks, I think this chapter is more interesting than the last.**

Merlin could feel his heart pounding against his chest in complete stress and anxiety. It pounded even faster than the horse's hooves thundering against the ground. The young warlock was risking life and limb right now but he had to find Arthur before it was too late. Merlin knew that Arthur was in mortal danger and toeing the narrow line between life and death. He had to find Arthur before it was all over but he couldn't get rid of the feeling, that Morgana had done something very stupid. Merlin couldn't understand why he possibly cared about Morgana when Arthur was in mortal danger. It just didn't make sense. Even Aithusa's promise didn't assure him that Morgana would be safe. Merlin barely felt he could breathe; every all of his friends were in danger and he had a sensation which told them that not all of then were going to come out of the battle.

...

"Hello again..." Gwaine sighed to two guards. "Long time no see. I haven't been locked up in this cell for five entire months. It's like a lifetime... for a fly anyway." Gwaine was getting bored already. He had been trapped in the cell for approximately five minutes and already the guards were 'needing the toilet'. They didn't really need anything but just wanted to get away from Gwaine and his 'incoherent' nonsense. Twenty minutes ago Gwaine had been in a rather joyful mood as he had thrown a rock at Alexander and had hit him right in the eye. Now Gwaine was stuck in King Gremian's dungeons again with only the guards for company. Well, Morgana was there too but considering that she was still unconscious, Gwaine didn't class her as company. He more classed her as a mere annoying presence that was no fun to anyone.

"You know what?" Gwaine goofily smiled putting on his annoying charm mode. "If you let me go right now than you won't have to endure my annoying ways for the rest of your life. I am even more annoying than I was before because I am suffering from applesia."

"Sufferin' from wha'," one of the guard incredulously said.

"Applesia," Gwaine sobbed, swishing his hair dramatically. "It's a fatal disease which occurs when someone does not eat enough apples." The guards looked at him in disbelief slighting bemused.

"I wan' to let ye free," mumbled a guard. "But if I do I'd lose my head and I don't wan' to lose my head. In fact I'd rather lis'en to yer nonsense."

At this Morgana lifted her head up. The body paralysing potion had seemed to have worn off. She gasped in relief and happily stood up. It had been the most traumatic thing that had happened to her since she had killed Morgause and that was saying something considering everything else that she had been through recently.

"Morgana are you alright?" Gwaine squealed in delight. At least he would have some better company then these stupid guards.

"Yes," Morgana replied pale and traumatised. Her voice was unsteady and trembled so much that Gwaine could even detect something was wrong. He was distracted from Morgana by a guard who was opening the cell.

"I have been instructed to take the witch to the king when she awakes," stated a Saxon with a very Camelot accent.

"It'll be alright," Gwaine assured Morgana squeezing her arm. Morgana just nodded at Gwaine. He had no idea what a traumatic scene she had just been through. Fortunately, Morgana was still as courageous as ever and walked towards the guard with her head held high. Morgana's insides were like jelly and for once she felt like the victim and wanted to run. Her nerve kept her from doing this. She wasn't born to run like a mouse; that was only for cowards.

...

"Well, well, well. Look who we have back again- the witch. It may have magic but it doesn't have a brain," roared King Gremian with laughter. His painful chortles echoed inside her ears and hurt Morgana's pride. Usually the priestess managed to endure these taunts but this was just one time too many.

"I do have a brain because I am able to move, talk and think," Morgana indignity said in fierce voice. "You are too arrogant and know this I would rather drown in my own blood than have your brain. Imagine losing every argument you have... But you do not need to imagine it. You already lose every argument." This did not go down at all well with King Gremian but every Saxon waited with bated breath to see what their king would do next.

"Be quiet, witch, or I may have to cut out your tongue," spat King Gremian. All of his cronies and servants began to leer and snigger at Morgana but the priestess knew that this had been a empty threat. It took a few moments for Morgana to think of a suitable retort to King Gremian's empty threat.

"I'd like to see you try," Morgana cooly retaliated. "You are not even going to attempt to cut out my tongue because then Arthur wouldn't be able to hear my bloodcurdling screams and you would lose the war." This again was a witty comeback which horrified King Gremian but left his warriors apprehensively waiting for their King's next move. Morgana was extremely impatient for the next few moments in which her and King Gremian exchanged many looks. King Gremian seemed to be in deep thought as he did not know what to do with the witch.

"Lover boy may just lose his head if you don't SHUT UP!" roared King Gremian. Morgana looked down at the ground and smiled at nothing. This made everyone in the room feel perplexed although they knew that she was a deranged lunatic. Morgana didn't care what anybody thought of her though. If they thought she was a raving lunatic then they were obvious the lunatics.

"You never cease to shock me," Morgana laughed. "Every time I see you, you just get more stupid. I am currently suffering from severe trauma as of how stupid you are. I should be more likely to be in love with your son than him." Morgana hesitated at the murderous glare on King Gremian's face and began to wonder what wrong she had done this time. Perhaps the witch's mere presence had been enough to trigger this look. If it was then King Gremian's reaction was delayed by at least five minutes.

BANG

Morgana flinched as the double doors flew open- Alexander had burst in. Dressed in slightly grimy chain mail, Alexander looked more dishevelled and stressed since Morgana had last seen him. His sword glinted in the dim torch ray, the only light source that the dreary room had. The witch was almost certain that Alexanded's sword would be spattered in clotting blood. He had slaughtered so many for no apparent reason.

"Father, the battle shall commence when the clock strikes twelve tonight," Alexander informed cracking a smile. "It is difficult to estimate their numbers just now but we shall defiantly out number them." King Gremian slowly rose from his throne and thumped his son's back in appreciation. Morgana watched this from the sideline's trying to stop herself from acting too soon. She could mange to go through with her plan just now but their would be major repercussion so the priestess decided to remain in the background for the time being. If her patience remained, Morgana could gain a lot from her plan.

"You are forgetting Emrys. You will not win; only I am equal to him..."

...

"It's tha' way," grunted a Saxon. He heavily pointed to the left with his stubby fingers.

"No, it's to the righ'," another Saxon argued, pointing in the opposite direction. Gwen sighed and rolled her eyes. The Saxons had not a clue on how to navigate at all. Even Gwen knew soon basic navigation skills that Morgana had taught her when they were children. It was all logic after all and these Saxons didn't have a trace of logic in them.

"I command you in the name of -" Mordred said a name that Gwen had never heard of. "-to stop." All of the Saxons looked around in fear at Mordred.

"This can't be righ'. A knigh' of Camelot knowin' 'is name," Chief Pierce incredulously remarked. Mordred knowingly smiled but it disappeared as soon as it came. He still looked at Chief Pierce in a superior way.

"I knew him when I was a child," Mordred stated to the gobsmacked Saxons. Chief Pierce began to frown deciding whether Mordred was a friend or foe. "We were allies. If you tell him this he'll know who I am." Mordred bent closely towards Chief Pierce's ear and whispered a couple of sentences into it. Pierce's eyes widened with shock and he stumbled back a bit with shock. He seemed to get a bit of delayed reaction as this all took a few minutes.

"Why shoul' I believe ye?" This question was unusually asked with curiosity instead of aggression. Mordred closed his eyes to come up with a reasonable explanation.

"i shouldn't tell you but I suppose there isn't another way to get out of this awkward situation. Well I am actually a Saxon who is pretending to be a knight of Camelot and I am feeding back the information to King Gremian." Mordred paused here to give the Saxons time to pick up all the information which he had just told them.

Gwen put a hand over her mouth to conceal a gasp. This news sounded beyond preposterous to her and it even gave a a shock although she was pretty sure that the knight was lying. If he wasn't lying then Gwen knew that she was in mortal peril.

"Anyway," Mordred continued. "Our King has already captured M-" Mordred realised that calling her Morgana would arouse suspicion so he cut it short and came out with-

"The witch." Mordred hesitated for a few minutes trying not to get worked up and flushed about this whole situation. Taking a few deep breaths, Mordred realised that everybody was staring at him in apprehension and knew that he had to carry on. "You have captured my wife." It was hard for Gwen to process what Mordred had just said. She was defiantly not his wife. This confirmed her suspicions: Mordred was playing along with the Saxons and beguiling them.

Pierce pointed towards Gwen and immediatly two Saxons unshackled her. Gwen looked down her wrists which were coated in clotted blood. Suddenly she felt nauseous but the queen knew that she has to play her part properly. Although Gwen wasn't a great actress, she sprinted towards Mordred and flew into his arms. Then she tenderly kissed him. It felt horrible to her. It felt like she was betraying Arthur again. She was relieved that he wasn't here to see her kissing another. Slowly the two broke apart and Mordred put his arm around Gwen. The whole act had been alarmingly convincing and this horrified both Mordred and Gwen.

"Wha' is yer name before ye go," asked Chief Pierce. Mordred was conflicted between lying or telling the truth. Finally, he decided that the truth would do no harm. King Gremian's brother would find out the truth anyway.

"My name is Mordred." At once he knew he had made a mistake. In the near distance he could feel magical rage. He turned around looking suspiciously at the Saxons.

_MORDRED! Help me! You have killed me. Please, help me. I will die if you don't. It's all your fault. You know it's me. Help me! I don't want to die._

Mordred looked in the direction this telepathic speech had came from. He knew who it was and felt guilty. They were kin. He had done everything for the greater good and couldn't go back on it now. The knight just ignored the pleading but it didn't cease. Even when he was leading Gwen away with his arm still wrapped round her, the pleading still reverberated inside his head. It was rather distracting and he took a wrong turning to the horses. Gwen was still keeping rather quiet after the shock of what had happened. She was even more bewildered when Mordred pulled her closer to him.

"Let us never speak of that again." Gwen still remained silent and watching Mordred tensely kick his toes into the earthy ground. The young knight felt too embarrassed to even look into Gwen's eyes and stared at the earth that his feet was sending flying

"I vow never to tell anyone," Gwen promised. Mordred nodded his head and hastily looked up at Gwen for two seconds. He then averted his gaze back to the ground again. To be honest Mordred didn't care about what had just occurred. He was more bothered by the trust in Gwen's eyes. Fortunately, Mordred pushed this feeling away. He was taking Gwen on a journey to a safe haven- Ealdor.

...

Morgana looked rather pleased about the impact her last sentences had had on King Gremian. All of what she had said had been true. The Saxons could not win against Emrys. Even King Gremian's brother, with magic, could not hope to win against him. Morgana had beat Emrys in their battle and therefore she thought of him to be her equal. However much Morgana's sentences had pleased herself, it angered King Gremian more. King Gremian's face had become increasingly red since he had began to speak to Morgana and now it was beginning to look slightly purple. Sweat was dripping off his brow and Morgana took a step back from the revolting man.

"GET OUT EVERYONE BUT ALEXANDER!" King Gremian roared. Immediately all the Saxons in the room rushed out the room. A couple off Saxons began to drag Morgana out the room as well. "Leave the witch behind and shut the door." The Saxons faithfully bowed to King Gremian before throwing poor Morgana on the floor. Before Morgana could even dare to clamber to her feet, Alexander stood beside her. This should of alarmed Morgana but it did not. Instead the witch felt like laughing and laugh she did.

"Why you cackling little witch? Do you want the knight to be annihilated?" Alexander's taunts rang in Morgana's ears causing her to become more and more distressed. Literally, Morgana had was fed up with being a 'good' prisoner and decided to throw a fit at Gremian and Alexander. In order to do this successfully she stood up.

"YOU ARE BOTH COWARDS!" Morgana suddenly shrieked. This gave both the Saxon leaders a fright, they had never heard someone get this aggetaited at them. "I HOPE EMRYS KILLS YOU BOTH PAINFULLY! I WANT THE WAR HOUNDS TO FEAST ON YOUR FLESH! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT IGNORANTS COWARDS AND YOU WILL PERISH! SOON YOU WILL START TO DECOMPOSE!" When Morgana stopped, she excessively panted and could feel her heart rate going up. She knew the adrenaline was running through her keeping her on edge. Morgana put a hand against her throat as it was now painful because of her shoutsSeveral times in Morgana's abusive shouts, Gremian had tried to shout at Morgana but he could not even hope complete with Morgana's deafeningly loud volume.

Alexander turned towards his father who was seething with anger. Although Alexander was just shocked and abashed by Morgana's shouts, he approached his father to get away from her. As Alexander's back was facing her, Morgana decided to attack him whilst he was off guard. Swiftly, she kicked his ankles making Alexander swipe around at her in shock. Morgana had been expecting this and managed to keep her balance whilst dodging the attack. With Alexander recovering from his attack, Morgana approached King Gremian to teach him a lesson. Unfortunately, King Gremian saw this move coming and had unsheathed his sword. He pointed it dangerously at Morgana.

"DON'T YOU DARE WITCH!" spat King Gremian. Morgana glared at him her rage seething through her. Never had she hated anyone more, not even Arthur. He was just downright evil and Morgana couldn't say anything else about him.

"Your sword will not stop me from killing you," Morgana laughed.

"There is no point on restraining your magic," King Gremian sniggered. "I can have lover boy killed at any time I want. I swear if you take one step out off line then I will carve his heart out and shove it down your throat." As King Gremian approached Morgana, she backed away from him until she was stuck in the corner of the room. "Stay there." King Gremian threateningly pointed the sword at Morgana before trudging to Alexander and whispering something anything in his ear. Alexander frowned but nodded and swept from the room.

"So here it is witch. That is the last time you will be so confident," King Gremian taunted. Morgana didn't move an inch from the position she was in and forlornly looked at the ground. "You've been caught in your own game, witch. You're going to die. You're going to die to keep your love alive." Morgana looked at King Gremian in a melancholy way but bit her lip to keep all of her insults and anger inside her. When she did keep all of the anger inside of her, she felt it churn in sadness. Morgana felt very sympathetic towards herself but fought the tears back. She didn't even understand where the tears and misery came from. It wasn't even like Gwaine was anything more than a mere friend to her. He treated her like a person; someone who could feel anger, sorrow, happiness and despair. Everyone else, treated her worse then they would treat an animal which was only fit to be slaughtered. He had just treated her as he would have treated anybody else and it had felt good. True, he was a knight of Camelot and Morgana should want him dead like every other knight of Camelot but she didn't. Morgana just couldn't wish Gwaine dead after everything that he had done for her. It just didn't make sense to her or anybody. Morgana didn't think she understood anything anymore. Nothing made sense to her.

"Is something wrong?" asked King Gremian. His voice was sickly sweet and clearly mocking her. Morgana refused to answer but looked up at him. "Oh, what's wrong? Your eyes are filled with tears." Morgana took a step back so the wall was keeping her on her feet.

"Stay strong for Morgause and Morrigan, Morgana," Morgana muttered to herself. She could barely keep her anger, rage and misery withing her. It wanted to burst out of her.

"Are you scared of dying?" King Gremian laughed, his voice still sickly sweet. "You are nothing. Your life is worth less than a pig raised for slaughter or a common weed. You may be a witch but you are nothing. No one likes you. Everyone thinks you are a deranged and insane lunatic."

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!" Morgana shrieked losing her self control which had lasted two seconds.

"You are upset because you know what I say is true. Everyone hates you except from loved boy," King Gremian cackled.

Morgana could feel her body sinking to the ground. It hurt so much to hear what King Gremian said because half of it was true. No one alive cared for her except from Morrigan, Aithusa and Gwaine. Everyone else cared about Morgana as much as King Gremian did. They sought her dead. Not just dead but tortured and maimed. She could never remember her self confidence getting lower than this and she walked so much inside that it had a telepathic connection with all other sorcerers in. They could feel her sadness and crying reverberating inside them but couldn't understand who it was.

"I've got it father," announced Alexander holding up something wrapped in a satin cloth. Morgana at them intrigued but scared out her wits, she knew whatever this was it couldn't be good. How very right she was.

"I want to do the honours. Pass it over," King Gremian commanded, holding out his hand. Reluctantly, Alexander passed him the bundle of satin cloth which the important utensil was safely wrapped in.

Cautiously, Alexander approached Morgana who felt like she was about to collapse. She gave him an evil look but he could see right through it. Morgana's eyes's were filled with tears and she looked as helpless as a child. For a moment Alexander hesitated wondering if he was doing the right thing. For some reason it felt like he was doing the wrong thing. Morgana looked so pitiful that Alexander couldn't help feeling sympathetic towards her.

"It's only a small cut," Alexander softly murmured to Morgana so his father couldn't heal him. Morgana couldn't work out if he was taunting her or reassuring her. It sounded like he was reassuring her but tones of voices could be deceiving. How could a 'small cut' be reassuring. It didn't make sense to Morgana.

As Alexander forced Morgana onto her knees, Morgana saw King Gremian reveal the thing from underneath the satin cloth. It was a dagger as dark as the night sky yet as sharp as any sword that she'd come across. It looked like a normal dagger coated in ink to Morgana. Yet there was something mysterious about the dagger. It had defiantly been enchanted. Morgana reckoned that she was either going to get a finger amputated or get something carved into her skin which would remain their forever.

"You deserve this witch," chortled King Gremian holding up the dagger. Morgana now prepared herself for head amputation as that seemed quite likely to her at the moment. The dagger came down but it wasn't her head that came off.

"NOOOOOO!" Morgana hysterically screamed kicking out. Alexander held her so firmly that however much Morgana tried she just couldn't escape. The body effects paralysing potion and the trembling state she was in meant that she had barely an ounce of strength compared to Alexander. King Gremian brought the dagger down again ignoring Morgana's shrieks.

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" she shrieked.

"We just did," King Gremian sniggered. "If you want us to leave it alone then remain quiet and do what we want you to do." With this Alexander released Morgana who immediately ran as far away from them as possible. This was the last straw. Starved and shattered, Morgana couldn't help the tears flooding her face. She knew that she could not bear to look in the mirror anytime soon. Life wasn't fair

...

Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.

The clock chimed twelve. Up went the siege ladders. The Saxon warriors climbed up them with dignity to meet the Camelot soldiers. For many warriors on both sides this would be the first but last battle they would see.

"FOR CAMELOT AND FOR ARTHUR!" Elyan and Percival roared in unison.

The battle had begun!

**A/N This isn't a straight forward chapter but all the questions will be answered later. What did you think? Please review?**


	28. Bloodshed

**Reia- Thanks and I did. Hope you didn't cry too** **much either and had a nice Christmas**

**Jedimasterawesome- I love cliff hangers to much. You may be in luck by the end of this chapter though. Hope you had a nice Christmas**

**Junior Woofles- That is my aim to make the story progressively more emotional and gripping as I hopefully improve at writing**

Morgana had silently obeyed every command that King Gremian had gave her. The 'small' cut that had occurred an hour constantly reminded her to keep her temper under control although it was not easy. Morgana could feel her anger building up inside her until she was sure that she could not contain it anymore. Nevertheless she did manage to keep inside of herself and was glad

Chained and forced to walk behind Alexander's horse it took Morgana a great effort to take one step after another. Her feeble muscles felt like they were ready to give way as they were exhausted and desperately needing to rest. She basically had had ten hours of sleep in the last four days. Considering that Morgana had been extremely active and busy, she was surprised that she had not fainted. The only reason that Morgana supposed that she was still able to maintain enough energy to walk was because she was used to having literally no sleep for weeks. Gradually, the priestess was beginning to lose all her energy and started to go into a bit of a trance. This made everything around her fade out and made the Saxon's shouts seem quieter. Then, finally, Morgana's legs gave way and she fell into a heap on the ground. As hard as she tried, Morgana didn't have the strength of energy to pull herself onto her feet again. Instead she just remained on the ground too tired to even get up.

"GET UP WITCH!" King Gremian yelled. Trembling, Morgana lifted her head up and stumbled to her feet. Her determination was the only reason she managed to clamber to her feet.

"Father," Alexander called turning his horse around to face King Gremian. "I think she is too weak to go on. She's tired an-" Alexander cut himself off there at the look his father gave him. "I mean it would be quicker as well i-"

"What are you suggesting?" King Gremian injected.

"That we let the witch ride a horse or else we will too late to have any fun. The war will already be won." King Gremian nodded in agreement and a very vile smile appeared on his face. With his father's approval, Alexander dismounted his flaming chestnut horse and slowly approached Morgana as if not to startle her. Swiftly, the prince untied the rope from the shackles Morgana wore.

"It's alright, girl," Alexander soothingly assured Morgana in a voice which was only audible to her. Morgana frowned at him and stared at him in great thought. This unnerved Alexander but the priestess was in deep thought that she barely noticed his uncomfortable look. Morgana wondered why he, someone who had caused her great pain, would talk to her like she was a wounded dog. Then it struck Morgana like lightning. There was two options: Alexander was trying to be 'nice' to her to manipulate her or Alexander was trying to flirt with her. Morgana didn't like any of these explanations least of all the second one.

"HURRY UP!" Gremian impatiently ordered. "WE HAVEN'T GOT ALL DAY SON!" Alexander basically lifted Morgana onto his horse like she was as light as a feather. He then hastily mounted onto his horse after her.

Being persistently persecuted and constantly hunted, Morgana had learnt to grab sleep whenever it was safe. She had taught herself to sleep through the most stressful, uncomfortable and noisy situations. Soon she was fast asleep on the cantering horse.

...

Sword met sword. Friend lost friend. Blood was spraying everywhere. Battle was cruel, there was no denying that. Cries and screams were heard for miles around the battlefield. In the background Arthur guiltily watched his soldiers die. He hated waiting for the right time to spring an attack on the enemy. Patience was the key but Arthur could barely be patient when his men were being slaughtered outside. The King could see his troops becoming uneasy and nervous waiting for the attack to take place.

"READY CAVALRY!" Arthur yelled. All his men readied their horses preparing for their attack. The horses snorted as they could feel their riders uneasiness and eagerness. They were all stressful and extremely tense. Most of them knew that their fate awaited. Most of them knew that they were going to die.

A few days before the battle Arthur had thought up a battle strategy for the battle. Obviously at the back of King Gremian's army would be the more cowardly troops who didn't want to be at the battle. The cowardly soldiers would either not want to fight for King Gremian or not want to die during the brutal battle. Therefore Arthur had decided to take his cavalry into the forest a few days before the battle to takeout the weaker and scared soldiers. This would make the braver soldiers uncertain of the battle outcome and less confident in winning the battle.

To take out the weaker soldiers it was important to get round the back of the army and spring a surprise attack for maximin impact. As soon as his cavalry makes the shocking attack on King Gremian's troops at the back, Arthur would expect King Gremian's soldiers to start routing. They would be scared and shocked.

Fighting on two fronts was extremely difficult for any army and Arthur hoped that this would help him win the battle. If Queen Annis's army arrived during the battle, Arthur had decided to put his calvary in a wedge formation. This would open up gaps in the enemy and would be extremely effective if his cavalry were quick enough to flee in and out. His cavalry wedge formation was all about managing to charge in and out quick enough.

Despite his witty tactics, Arthur knew that there was still a very small chance of winning this battle. They were out numbered one to five and were barely prepared for this massive battle. Even if Queen Annis did come up with backups, Arthur would still feel extremely burdened and stressed by everything.

"THREE, TWO, ONE, CHARGE!" Arthur yelled, urging his cavalry on. Behind him his five hundred cavalry silently galloped towards their king. It was dark and they almost felt like they were sneaking up on King Gremian's men. As they approached the Saxons, a few Saxons turned around wondering whether it was fried or foe galloping towards them.

"BEHIND US!" yelled a Saxon. "THEY ARE TRYING TO FIGHT US ON TWO FRONTS!" A dozen or so soldiers beside that Saxon turned around to see around five hundred cavalry galloping towards.

As soon as Arthur and the rest of the front line of cavalry had met the unsuspecting Saxons, they began to cut through them like mince meat. For several minutes the Saxons were basically unaware of the cavalry and ignorant to what was happening. Then the odds were in favour to the Saxons again due to their sheer numbers. The Saxons began to start killing Arthur's cavalry and the king knew that the losses they were sustaining were too great to enable them to win the war.

"RETREAT" Arthur yelled striking down a few Saxons beside him. "BACK TO THE FOREST!" A few Saxons gave chase to the fleeing cavalry but they gave up knowing that they couldn't even hope to outrun a horse.

By the time all the cavalry had fled to the forest, Arthur could tell that he had probably lost around a hundred of his cavalry. It was impossible to sense whether he was on track or not as Arthur couldn't tell how many Saxons they had killed.

"OUR GREATEST ATTACK IS SNEAKING UP ON THE SAXONS," Arthur loudly declared to his cavalry. "IT IS PITCH BLACK SO THE SAXONS CANNOT SEE US COMING. WE MUST CHARGE IN AND OUT ON THESE UNSUSPECTING SAXONS. THEN WE ARE WELL ON OUR WAY TO WINNING THE BATTLE AND THE WAR." His troops shouted at him in agreement. Arthur did not believe his own words but he knew that it was important to keep up his troops moral.

"GET READY!" Arthur shouted at his troops. They mounted their cavalry, adjusted their armour and unsheathed their swords again. "ATTACK TWO! SILENT!" This time Arthur galloped to towards the back right of the enemy instead the back left of the enemy before. Arthur knew that he was making many mistakes but this was his first battle after all and it was to be expected.

Plunging Excalibur into a Saxon, Arthur could see the terrified look on the Saxon's face. When he pulled Excalibur out of the Saxon's chest, Arthur could see the crimson blood spurting everywhere. All the blood was seeping out the Saxon and the Saxon's face was becoming more and more pale. Arthur loathed this feeling but it was necessary if even hoped to win the war.

...

After two hours of cantering, the Saxons had decided to give the horses a ten minute rest and settled down by a river. Morgana was still fast asleep, oblivious to what was going on around her. Perhaps it was for the best as she could not like what was happening. For now the peaceful witch is restrained to an old oak tree and her hand dipped into the river.

_Morgana. Morgana MorGANA! MORGANA! WAKE UP!_ Morgana bolted up in shock and leant her back against the tree. Was it just her imagination or had someone just telepathically woke her up The escort of twenty Saxons and Alexander were looking at her suspiciously but King Gremian was busy devouring chunks of rare meat.

_Do you need rescued Morgana?_ Morgana gave the Saxons her innocent but ignorant look. She turned her shock into confusion to try and not look too surprised. The priestess didn't want them to know that she as communicating with other people.

_Mordred, is that you?_

_No, it's Emrys_, Mordred telepathically replied in a sarcastic lay back down and closed her eyes trying not to arise any suspicion inside the Saxons heads.

_Do not try and say that again Mordred. You do not know how much trouble you could get into. I do not need rescued, this is all part of my plan. _

_Where's Gwaine. Is he alright?_ Obviously Gwaine hadn't succeeded in his plan to kill King Gremian as Mordred could see the king out of the thicket of the trees he was hiding in. Gwen was impatiently wondering what Mordred was doing but she hid behind the young knight.

"What are you doing?" Gwen asked the young knight. Mordred just put a finger to his lips as he was busy listening to Morgana's telepathic words. After Mordred and Morgana had finished their telepathic conversation, Mordred silently beckoned for Gwen away from the Saxons.

"Can you manage to go to Ealdor by yourself," asked Mordred in worry.

"Yes, but why?" Gwen worriedly inquired looking deep into Mordred's eyes.

"Long story. Me and Morgana have a telepathic connection. I asked her about Gwaine because he was on a mission and she basically said that he was locked up in King Gremian's fortress."

"And you believe her." It was almost a question that Gwen asked. Mordred, unsure, shrugged in response.

"All I believe is that Gwaine is my friend and whether or not Morgana speaks the truth, I have to be loyal to Gwaine and try to rescue him," Mordred sighed. "I reckon Morgana is telling the truth. I mean she looks like she has been beaten up and." Mordred bent closer to Gwen and whispered something in her ear. Gwen stared at the ground in shock looking very confused.

"But Morgana would never do that to herself," Gwen exclaimed. Mordred nodded in agreement.

"There is only one solution then- the Saxons did it to her." Mordred put his foot in his horse's stirrup and sprung onto the saddle. "Farewell, your majesty. Good luck." With a click of his tongue and kick of his heels, Mordred was off riding in the moonlight.

"And you Sir Mordred," Gwen called out but Mordred could only hear the whistling of the wind in his ears. He needed to rescue Gwaine.

...

"ARTHUR!" Merlin shouted. "WHERE ARE YOU?" There was no response to his shouts but he heard the rustling of leaves to left side of him. Merlin backed behind a bush peering out at the left side of the bush. Soon he could see the source of the noise- King Gremian, Alexander and Morgana. This didn't look good to Merlin so he decided to follow them.

"FIND ARTHUR, ALEXANDER!" King Gremian roared. "AND YOU BE READY TO SHOOT HIM!" He told a Saxon with a crossbow. King Gremian dismounted his horse and strode towards Morgana with his lethal sword pointing at her.

"I don't need to find him father. He's already here," stated Alexander pointing to the left of him. Arthur was galloping towards them with around the three hundred cavalry he had left.

Suddenly, the Saxon with crossbow fired an arrow which hit Arthur's horse squarely in the chest. With this his horse tumbled over sending Arthur flying off his horse and hitting the ground. Fortunately, Arthur seemed to be not too badly injured considering that he had fallen off his horse at a life threatening speed. At worst he would have broke cleanly through his arm and perhaps fractured a few minor bones too.

"SURRENDER ARTHUR OR SHE WILL DIE!" threatened King Gremian. Arthur stumbled to his feet in great pain. He could just make out Morgana struggling int King Gremian's grasp. There was something different about his sister but Arthur didn't understand why she would get this done to her.

"I do not surrender," Arthur exclaimed shocking himself. "I do not care about her. She is only a traitor and a witch." These words shocked everyone who heard. Even Morgana was slightly upset by these words though she wasn't surprised by them. It hurt to realise that barely anyone cared for her anymore.

"THEN THAT STUPID KNIGHT THAT SUFFERS FROM APPLES WILL BE KILLED!" This infuriated Morgana as Gremian was completely wrong about this. Gwaine suffered from not having enough apples not the actual fruit itself.

This caused Arthur to drop Excalibur to the ground and look ominously at the King of the Saxons. He knew that he was going to be deceased by this time tomorrow. As the Saxons picked up Excalibur, he could vividly see Gwen crying in his mind. Arthur couldn't stand the pain that she would feel mourning for his death so he looked straight at Morgana to ask her a favour. Morgana was smirking at him reminding Arthur that she was not a friend but a foe.

Morgana hissed, "I am very sad to sa-"

"SHUT UP WITCH!" King Gremian roared, "YOU'LL LOSE IT ALL IF YOUR NOT CAREFUL!"

"It's important, your majesty. Your life may depend on it, my good king," Morgana warned in her manipulative tone. King Gremian nodded for her to go on gob smacked by the titles the witch had given him. "One King is going to die here tonight, my lord. Mordred has freed Gwaine and I still have my magic which leaves me with one decision and it is not difficult because I know what is going to happen with the King I don't kill." Morgana closed her eyes and blasted King Gremian back. Merlin could foresee what was about happen but didn't feel himself even trying to prevent it. He was more than happy to let Morgana do what she was about to do.

"You are a piece of vile vermin," Morgana hissed at King Gremian, her voice as soft but dangerous as ever. "I will only be more than glad to be your bane and make your blood seep out of you. It will be an honour to watch the crows feast on your eyes and the wolves feast on your guts." Arthur lay on the ground trying to back away from the Saxons. He wasn't bothering to listen to Morgana's how much I hate you speech as he had already heard more times than he could count. It was quite nice that she wasn't saying it to him today as Arthur lost interest the first time she gave him the how much I hate you speech. Arthur had heard many loathsome speeches from people who hated him for some insane reason but Morgana had the most illuminating speeches. It was the same hateful speech every time as it basically delivered the message 'I will dance on your grave when your dead'. Hearing it over a hundred times was no fun.

"I will get my vengeance King Gremian," Morgana taunted. "My dragon will tear your limbs apar-"

"JUST HURRY UP AND GET ON WITH IT MORGANA OR I WILL BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO DO IT FOR YOU!" Merlin screamed, coming out from behind the bushes.

"Hush, Emrys," Morgana hissed making Excalibur fly into her right hand. The priestess could feel the magic in this sword the moment it touched her hand; Excalibur was forged in a dragon's breath. She then purposely plunged it into King Gremian's stomach.

"You are going to die," Morgana silkily laughed out loud. "You are going to die painfully. Words cannot explain how much I hate you." The priestess than pulled Excalibur out of his chest, laughing at his pain. "Goodbye Gremian." With this Morgana flounced away with Excalibur still clutched in her fist.

"WITCH!" Alexander spat at Morgana, striking her with his sword. "Y-YOU K-K-KILLED MY F-FATHER!" Morgana simply pulled the sword out of her gut and threw it back at Alexander. Blood was seeping out her side but Morgana didn't seem too concerned about this.

"I am a high priestess which means no mortal weapon can kill me," Morgana cackled backing away from everyone. Suddenly Morgana blasted everyone back apart from Merlin and Arthur.

"Merlin ha-" Morgana started until she was interrupted by Merlin.

"It's been cursed off hasn't it?" Merlin sadly said approaching Morgana and looking at her short locks of hair.

"MERLIN HAS MAGIC!" Morgana fumed.


	29. Battling Fate

**Have a Happy New Year everyone!**

**Ladyofice- I only really hinted what happened to her there in the second last paragraph of the last chapter. Don't worry it becomes obvious in this chapter if you didn't pick it up. I don't think many people did**

**Jedimasterawesome- Thanks. The Mergana confrontation is over 2500 words long. I hope it's long enough.**

**Reia- I planned out my ending to this story before the fifth series of Merlin even came out so it'll be very different. I'm sorry but you'll just have to wait and see if Morgana dies or not.**

serenityskywalker- I'm pretty sure that Morgana will pay for it sooner or later.

JuniorWoofles- Thanks. I promise you it wasn't planned!

"Have you lost it completely?" Arthur asked Morgana, bemused. Morgana narrowed her eyes at Arthur in fury. Since the Saxons had locked her up and Morgana had restrained anger, it had built up in her. Now Morgana was ready to unleash it and no one would want to be the person she unleashed it on.

"NO I HAVEN'T!" raged Morgana losing it. "YOU ARE JUST TOO IGNORANT AND NAÏVE TO REALISE IT!" Arthur and Merlin, simultaneously, took a large step back from Morgana to give her plenty room to have her tantrum. Morgana was trembling by the time she had finished shouting, emotionally unsteady. Her fists were clenched so tight that her knuckles had gone white.

"Go home Morgana," Merlin softly commanded. "Go home and calm down." This didn't help calm Morgana down and just made the adrenaline run through her body even more. Morgana was both psychologically and physically exhausted but she still had many things to do. Killing Emrys was right at the top of the list with killing Arthur shortly behind it and then killing Alexander. Cutting out Gwaine's tongue was also on the list too but also was telling everyone that she was suffering from applesia.

"I am calm," Morgana quietly said although she was still fuming inside. Every word she said had anger etched into it and was accented. Anyone could tell that she was not calm but stressed and furious. One look from her just now would make most people flee for their lives in terror.

"But Merlin and magic," laughed Arthur. "You can't be serious." Morgana had never looked more serious in her life though the anger was still running through her and making her look more fanatical by the minute. Merlin pushed Arthur back and took a couple of steps forward closer to Morgana. In the distance they could hear battle cries, screaming and swords but in the woods not even a mouse stirred. Every Saxon in King Gremian's escort had been knocked unconscious. Blood splashed out of some of their mouths and a few of them were, no doubt, dead or mortally wounded. Only Morgana, Merlin and Arthur disturbed the quietness of the forest as the birds and wolves had not yet come to feast on the corpses flesh.

"GET BACK!" Merlin growled to Arthur. Arthur gave him a bemused look and took a step forward.

"I am the king, Merlin. You cannot tell me what to do," Arthur argued. Morgana gave him a mere look of contempt making Arthur take a few wary steps backwards. The priestess had a plan so she telepathically summoned Aithusa.

"Give me back the sword," ordered Merlin. "Or else I will kill you" Excalibur was still dripping with blood in Morgana's hands. Morgana now took the time to properly admire its impeccable balance and beauty. Running her fingers from the pommel to the point of the sword, Morgana's fingers became coated in dirt and blood so she cleaned the sword on the ground. Reading the writing on the sword, Morgana was pretty sure that one side read 'Take me up,' and the other 'Cast me away'. Many a time had Morgana heard of tales with swords forged in a Dragon's breath. One stab by the sword would ensure a person's death; there was no cure. With this sword Morgana was sure she could achieve greatness. It would be essential that the sword did not fall back into Arthur's or Emrys's possession as it would do a great evil.

"Are you going to kill me Emrys?" Morgana spat at him. "Admit it, you wouldn't be able to if you tried to." Merlin held his hand up ready for Morgana's incoming attack. She was almost a different person from the Morgana he had talked to in the wood just a few days ago. The warlock should have known that Morgana was dead serious when she said 'This was just a moment of weakness Emrys. Do not expect this much kindness next time I see you.' Morgana's strong will, stubborness and determination was most likely to be the bane of her.

"Nice haircut," Merlin cheekily retorted changing the subject. Morgana glowered at the warlock making him bite his lip. He suddenly regretted bringing up this again. It was clear what had happened. Either Morgana had tried to cut it with a spell and accidentally cursed it off or King Gremian had done something to it. It was very unevenly cut. The longest strands (there was three) trailed down to just below her shoulders and her shortest strands were just below her eyes. The bulk of her hair was cut somewhere between her chin and the bottom of her ears. It still looked as wild as before but Morgana couldn't stand the length of it. No woman had hair this short cut in this time. It just wasn't right.

"SHUT UP!" Morgana yelled her eyes filling with tears. "IT WASN'T MY CHOICE!" Merlin couldn't believe his eyes. Morgana, the witch, was teary because of a mere hair cut. She had been thwarted continuously, on the brink of death several times, lost her sister and all her allies and hadn't become teary. Instead she was becoming teary at getting most of her hair chopped. Merlin just couldn't believe it. He had had his hair really short for his whole life. It had to be a thing only girls would understand.

"But your a witch," Merlin said testing Morgana's self control. He was foolish to do this as the consequences of Morgana being wound up were severe. "A High Priestess should not be able to be outwitted by the stupid Saxons. Your magic should be more powerful than Gremian's brother's magic. Anyway just magically grow it back."

"I can't," Morgana snarled. "It was cut off with a cursed dagger. It means that I will have to wait for it to naturally grow back." Merlin gave a small nod not feeling sympathetic at all towards Morgana. She was worried about her hair. He was worried about his friends, all of them could be dead. To be honest Merlin knew that Morgana's hair had been getting more wilder recently. He didn't know whether he liked it better than when it was just matted and curly. Of course it had been lovely sleek and silky when she been in Camelot. It had been just the right- Merlin cut of his train of thoughts there. Why did he know so much about Morgana's hair? He could feel himself going a deep shade of magenta.

"Your getting flushed, Emrys," hissed Morgana's calm drawling tone. "There's no need to fear death. True, it's an instinct to try and avoid it. Pain is what you should be worried about. My torture methods are the renown for their beautiful pain. You know what a Nathair is don't you Emrys." Merlin had not ever heard of this creature and looked at Morgana in confusion.

"It isn't a horse neighing for air is it," Merlin chuckled. "Neigh-f-air. You can even hear the horse breathing for air in the middle of it. It's only a pity that none of the horse's are neighing." Arthur only heard this as a distant whisper. He was still trying to figure out what was wrong with Morgana. Merlin a sorcerer. What was the point on fabricating a story which was utterly preposterous. Perhaps Gremian's dungeons had deluded her and made her even more deranged than before. He could never even think of Merlin being a sorcerer though. Merlin was just too stupid. No sorcerer could be that clumsy and troublesome.

"I thought you were meant to be the greatest sorcerer of all time Emrys. What a disappointment you are. You are very uneducated and seem to think you have witty charm. You are just arrogant and coc-"

"Please can we finish the lectures, Morgana," Merlin pleaded. "They get rather illuminating once you've heard them a hundred times. You are always telling me about how you are going to kill me like two seconds later yet you never do." Morgana smirked at Merlin's remark, this time it would be different. He was getting far too cocky and arrogant for her liking. Soon he would be dead.

Morgana's eyes flickered gold as she summoned one of the Saxon's sword belts to her and placed the sword forged in the dragon's breath into it. She then murmured a complex enchantment to ensure that Merlin did not try to use magic to unsheathe the deadly sword. Morgana licked her lips longing for Merlin's blood to be spilt, yet she had a feeling inside her which held her back. The witch wanted him dead, that was inevitable, but she didn't seem to want to kill him. Morgana closed her eyes trying to psych herself up for the moment. This just had to be one of her 'weak' moments where she had just lost all hope. Yet, Morgana felt like she wanted him dead. It was just the mere fact that she couldn't kill him that got in her way. She opened her eyes again and narrowed them. This time Morgana could feel the fire igniting inside her and the untameable lion raging. Merlin could tell, by the ominous gleam in Morgana's eyes, that the lion inside her was going to kill him in a split second. He tumbled down onto the forest floor and narrowly avoided Morgana's spell which hit the chestnut tree behind him. Finding it hard to see, as Merlin stumbled up he tripped over a tree root. This gave him a large disadvantage and before he knew it Morgana was using her to throttle him. Chocking loudly, it felt like a hand was throttling him. There was not any hand though so Merlin assumed it must have just been the air throttling him.

"Hleap on bæc," Merlin gasped. He knocked Morgana off her feet with a great force and before he could continue his next attack he heard Arthur screaming-

"I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!" With his shock, tenseness and tiredness, Arthur fainted on the spot. This gave Morgana time to stumble to her feeble feet to continue the fight against Emrys. The witch made a ball of fire appear in her hand and fired it at Emrys. Merlin stumbled to the right, the ball of fire missing him and setting the large tree behind him on fire. Turning around, Merlin sent Arthur flying back away from the brazen tree. Sooner or later the tree would collapse so it was better to get Arthur too safety hastily. It was fortunate Merlin did too as two seconds later Morgana's eyes flashed gold making the alight tree fall down. Merlin darted away from the falling tree and threw Morgana back yet again. Unluckily, Morgana landed in the pool of scarlet blood seeping out of King Gremian. She was now completely drenched in blood and grime. Blood, stung her eyes and dripped from her lips. Morgana hated the metallic flavour of blood that she could taste, it was revolting. Her eyes were half shut due to them stinging painfully. She made to wipe them with her blood covered hands but was interrupted by Emrys handing her his blue scarf. Hastily, Morgana wiped her eyes to witness Merlin standing over her and unsheathing the magical sword. As Morgana cowered back to the tree, Merlin pointed Excalibur to her heart.

"Look who's won the fight, Morgana," Merlin growled. Morgana flinched and tried to cower back even more although it was not possible as the tree was in the way. "Looks like its your turn to get a lecture now." Morgana's heart was pounding against her ribcage. This could not be about to happen yet it was real and vivid. She should have remembered the Calleach saying 'He is your destiny and he is your doom' more often. Morgana had tried to hide from her destiny. She had tried to deny that destiny wasn't set in the stone. Of course Morgana's destiny had been written since before the dawn of time and she had been naïve to think not enough of it. Morgana knew she should have killed Emrys when she had the chance. It just never seemed to work out right. The priestess was always thwarted by Emrys. She had never been a good loser. Even if it had been a small game with Arthur she had still detested losing it. Morgana must or not changed much since those small games as she was fuming at being thwarted by Emrys yet again.

"Well at least I am not scared of dying," Morgana taunted. "You may be powerful but you are a coward." Merlin placed the tip of Excalibur on Morgana's neck drawing a small bead of her scarlet blood. Tipping her head back, Morgana exposed the whole of her neck to him. It made her feel incredibly vulnerable. "Go on then, Emrys. Kill me."

"You've got a lot of nerve considering I've got a sword forged in the dragon's breath pointing at neck," Merlin said. Morgana didn't react to this immediately as she could feel droplets of her blood trickling out of the small cut. The small cut wasn't enough mortally wound her but she could feel the sword ominously against her neck.

"If I didn't have this much nerve than I would have been dead long ago," Morgana stated. "Everyday I have fight for my very survival. It's not easy." Merlin frowned. He hadn't really thought that Morgana would have to fight for her survival with the power she possessed. Imaging himself in Morgana's position wasn't easy for Merlin. The warlock supposed that Morgana would have to be extremely cautious about she slept. Someone could easily slit her throat in the middle of the night or capture her considering everyone in the whole of Albion was looking for her. Gremian had put a large price over her head and people expected to get a reward from Arthur from imprisoning his dangerous half sister. Poor people would do anything to get their hands on gold even of it meant putting their life on the line. Other people hunted Morgana down just to slaughter her avenging the deaths of people Morgana had indirectly killed. If she became unwell, lost her magic, made a foolish decision then her death was quite a certainty. Today she had made an extremely foolish decision and would pay with her life.

"I blame myself for what you've become," Merlin admitted. "This cannot go on though. You have killed numerous innocent people. This has to stop or I'll make it."

"Get on with then," Morgana whispered dangerously. "You've done it plenty of times before, Emrys." Merlin hands trembled on Excalibur drawing yet more blood from Morgana. The priestess just silkily laughed at him. The greatest warlock ever was afraid of killing her yet he managed to kill anyone else without thought. Perhaps this was what prevented him from killing her. Merlin was thinking too much about it. This and the sheer reason that him and Morgana used to be friends was what made him not want to kill her. It pained him more than he cared to admit it.

"I don't want to, Morgana," protested Merlin. "You leave me no choice." Morgana's breathing rate was increasing and she now felt like her heart was going to explode. The priestess was so terrified that she was beginning to feel faint and nauseous. Her face was incredibly pale but the blood and grime hid the pallidness. Morgana successfully hid her fearfulness from Merlin, she had had enough practise of this. Merlin pulled up Excalibur, not noticing how petrified his victim was, ready to strike Morgana. Morgana tried to advert her gaze from the sword but she couldn't. A few droplets of blood were still on the sword gleaming in the moonlight. The sword was truly captivating. Morgana hated how a weapon with such beauty was going to be the bane. Shutting her eyes, Morgana waited for the sword to plunge through her flesh. She waited for herself to start writhing in pain and burning her throat with her painful shrieks. Morgana was ready to confront her destiny and doom.

...

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?" Percival roared to Elyan. The duo were occupied by striking down Saxons and protecting the inhabitants of Camelot. Percival could tell that something was going wrong, more and more Saxons were climbing up the ladders and ambushing them. At first the soldiers of Camelot had an advantage but now, due to the heavy losses they had sustained, the Saxons were pushing them back. More and more of the Camelot soldiers were being slaughtered every minute.

"ARTHUR AND ALL HIS CAVALRY HAVE VANISHED!" Elyan screamed in response. "WE NEED TO TELL EVERYBODY WHO REMAINED IN CAMELOT TO FLEE THE CITY! WE CANNOT WIN!" Both Elyan and Percival stabbed a few Saxons before turning around and fleeing from the battle to warn the people to leave. Some of the citizens of Camelot had chosen to leave the city before the war but others had remained behind scared that they would run into the murderous Saxons.

Once the two knights had managed to get away from the fighting, Elyan put his hand to his leg and it was instantly covered with blood. Percival, concerned, looked at his friend. Elyan's leg was lacerated and blood was leaking out of it. He tried to not pay attention to it but he knew that the wound was deep as the blood kept on pouring out of him. Percival put arm round his fellow knight and helped him limp inside the castle to the chamber where Gaius was busy helping the wounded. There was a lot of wounded soldiers and many of them were dying as some as they got taken in.

"Gaius," Percival called. The busy physician looked up and ambled to the knights. He immediately saw Elyan's wounded leg "The Saxons have won. Arthur and his cavalry have vanished so you need to flee. Our soldiers outside can perhaps hold the Saxons back for twenty more minutes but if they start routing then you might have less than ten minutes. I need to go and warn everybody else." With this, Percival swiftly sprinted off not giving Gaius or Elyan a chance to get a word in edge wise. Hastily, Gaius began to bandage Elyan's leg.

"Give me something to help with the pain Gaius," Elyan said with great agony. "I've got a plan which could bide you several more minutes."

"It's just a simple pain killer," Gaius explained handing Elyan over a bottle with a musty coloured liquid in it. "Juice from the bark of the willow tree, lungwort, honey and a few other common herbs. It's simple but effective." Elyan gratefully downed the potion in one. It had a rather peculiar taste of liquidated petals and leaves. It was quite disgusting especially the after taste. "Good luck!" Patting the Elyan's back, Gaius began to gather his things up and tend to some of his patients wounds.

Elyan hurriedly jogged (it was more of a hop skip) out of the temporary infirmary. His leg was in agonising pain but he kept on running to the armoury. When Elyan arrived there, he quickly began to rake through Arthur's own weapons and armour. All the weapons and armour had been put to use except from the king's show armour which he often wore in tournaments. He took off all of his own armour and began to put on Arthur's show armour. It was too big on him but Elyan managed to put it all on. He then put on the king's sumptuous helmet and cape. Lastly, Elyan took out Arthur's second favourite sword and placed it in his sheath. For once in his life Elyan felt truly regal. It was all a lie but by doing this he was going to save many lives. Taking in a deep breath, Elyan ran to the stables too see what horse's were there. Only four horses had been left in the stables and all of them were left there for a good reason. One of them was a heavily pregnant mare and rest of the horses were young had not been trained yet. Elyan suspected that only one of the young horses would be able to carry him. He barely expected to be able to control this young colt but tacked it up anyway. The horse seemed to be used to the tack and let Elyan gently slip the bridle on it and do up the girth of the saddle. The knight then soothingly led the colt out to behind the battle deciding to only get on the horse when it was necessary. It only took minutes for the Camelot soldiers to start routing signalling for Elyan to mount the inexperienced horse. The colt didn't seem too uneasy about this either but Elyan was sure that it would change soon. The horse was terrified by the Saxons running towards them and Elyan just managed to keep it on the spot. A few arrows soared past and spooked the horse. The colt reared and Elyan clutched onto it's mane for dear life.

"I am the mighty King Arthur," Elyan roared. "I demand that you show me some respect." For a moment all the Saxons were struck immobile by this news. Then Elyan's colt bolted and all the Saxons ran after him instead of capturing the castle. Keeping low in the saddle, Elyan wrapped his hands round the colt's neck. There was no point on trying to control the horse now. It probably didn't even know what half the commands meant. They were soon soaring around the streets of Camelot that Elyan knew like the back of his hand. The Saxons were still hunting Elyan down, determined to get the reward for killing the 'King of Camelot'. Arrows soared passed Elyan scarcely missing his head.

"Oh great!" Elyan gasped. They were approaching a large market stand which usually held fruit and the colt obviously going try a jump it. The queen's brother held onto the colt even tighter. This was going to be the ultimate test of balance, strength and courage. Elyan managed to balance on the horse when they soared through the air over the fruit stand but the impact of hitting the ground unbalanced him. Now Elyan was hanging off the horse with one foot in it's stirrup and his arms wrapped round the horse's neck. He just had the strength to haul his body back onto the colt's flank. The knight was becoming exhausted and his leg felt like it should be falling off. He doubted he could keep this up for much longer but he didn't need to. Soon one of the Saxon's arrows hit the horse's hock. Although the colt was lame it continued to gallop onwards. Once that arrow had hit its target, more and more kept on coming until seven arrows had hit the colt in total. The exhausted horse then collapsed with Elyan cracking his skull off the stone ground. Hot blood gushed out of his head and Elyan became paler as the blood drained out of him.

"I did it," he murmured to himself as the world began to fade around. As the world faded around him, the pain abated too. On that very minute, Elyan thought of Gwen. Her sister had raised him and taught him well. He was proud to a loyal knight of Camelot until the very end.

...

"Morgana, get up," a voice from somewhere said. Morgana still had her eyes sealed closed waiting for Excalibur to pierce her. Warily she opened her eyes. Her faithful Aithusa was there clutching Excalibur in her mouth and Emrys was stirring several feet away from them. Watching Emrys's every move, Morgana clambered onto Aithusa's scaly back. With this Aithusa spread out her wings and soared into the air with Morgana on her back.

"Let us go to the Saxon fortress and burn it too smithereens," Morgana spat. Aithusa took a turning and soon they were heading for the castle which Morgana associated with pain, fear and torture. She longed to never see it again. She knew that burning it down would be a joy though. It only took the witch and her dragon half an hour reach the fortress. Together they flew around the fortress, Aithusa breathing fire at it and Morgana using her magic to set it alight as well. Soon the whole fortress was in flame and Aithusa landed not too away from it so Morgana could watch it burning in the near distance. Morgana rejoiced as the fortress and Saxons were lost in the flames. She did not regret in the slightest. That place was filled with filth and pain. Morgana even hoped that Gremian's sorcerer brother too.

"Morgana are you all right?" Morgana looked to the left to see Mordred approaching. She had been so immersed in watching the fortress burning down that she hadn't been paying attention to what was going on around her. That was another grave mistake that she had made today and it could have cost Morgana her life.

Slowly Morgana looked down at her filthy hands which were caked in Gremian's dried blood. Her dress was still damp and drenched in his scarlet blood. She was pretty sure that her short had his clotted blood in it too. When Morgana licked her lips she could still taste the metallic flavour of blood. No wonder Mordred was concerned about. Morgana looked like she had been in the wars which was true.

"I'm fine," Morgana assured him. Then she just noticed a man standing behind him. She recognised him although she hadn't seen him in years. "Alvarr?"

"Tell her the truth," Mordred ordered. "There should be no more lies or deceit between the three of us."

"I'm sorry Morgana," Alvarr wept, tears streaming down his face. As he drew closer, Morgana noticed that Alvarr had huge black bags underneath his eyes and had lost a lot of weight. "I am Gremian's half brother. I made you go through everything. I am really sorry but I guessed he was just controlling me. I've never been so sorry for everything."

"NOOOOOO!" Morgana yelled taking a step back from him. "RUN! SAVE YOURSELF AITHUSA!" Morgana had no energy to fight Alvarr although she was desperate to kill him. As Aithusa spread her wings, Morgana began to flee too. She didn't want to be with such company. Mordred had seemingly betrayed her again. She had no clue where she was going so the witch just ran and ran and ran. When Morgana began to tire her eyes drooped until she ran into someone. A rather regal person too.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT!" Morgana roared fading out. She was exhausted and her muscles were feeble. Morgana collapsed again and everything became black.


	30. Betrayal

**Jedimasterawesome- Thanks. I try to make the story unpredictable although I don't think it works that often. Yeah I only killed off Elyan so I can have more time to focus on Percival and Sir Leon. He died a hero though and nothing more can be said about it.**

**serenity skywalker- Here we are then... Enjoy (hopefully)**

**fullhans1- Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy this chapter too.**

_Morgana clutched something which a black inky substance was seething out of. She was standing on a battlefield alone although corpses were scattered around her. Pools of blood drenched what must of been a plain filled with lush grass. It was hardly recognisable. The sky rivalled the redness of the plain as it was a mix of a fiery red and amber colouring. Blazing in the sky, the sun also gave off a glint of red._

_In front of Morgana lay Arthur. The king had clearly been stabbed in his chest as blood was bursting with bloodShe had Excalibur sheathed round her waist and a dagger in her hand. Swiftly, Morgana coated her dagger in the horrible black substance. Then she wrenched her dagger through Arthur's chain mail piercing his wound._

_"Hleap on bæc." Morgana was blasted back away from her half brother. She clenched her hand on Excalibur and looked up at who had attacked her- it was Merlin. She began to tremble in fear of him. He was going to kill her as he pointed a sword right at her heart. _

The bed was comfortable; extremely comfortable. She was exhausted but this had shocked her. Morgana woke up trembling and sweating like she had been in the dream. Her heart pounded against her ribcage at an alarming fast rate. Morgana felt nauseous and faint. She was panting for air. It took Morgana several minutes to realise that she had no idea where the hell she was. The room was spacious, airy and very light. It contained a large wardrobe, a dressing table (complete with mirror and stool), a dining table and the comfortable four poster bed which Morgana had woken up in. All of the wooden furniture were a light beige colour and the walls were pleasant coral colour. Shells and coral decorated the whole room. Even the furniture were decorated in them and it wasn't over used. It was just beautiful.

As she drew back the cream duvet, Morgana noticed that her wrists were finely bandaged up but she could still see the crimson marks of blood on the bandages. Her wrists stung but she hardly noticed the pain. Pain was very usual to Morgana nowadays, the Saxons and Arthur had been sure of that. Morgana rejoiced as she remembered that the brutal barbarian, King Gremian was dead. She had killed him. Morgana could vaguely remember it but she was sure that it had happened. On the negative note Morgana rose her hands up to her hair to feel the short lank locks of her dark hair.

"Ic i forþgelæde," murmured Morgana. Her eyes flashed gold yet her hair still stayed the same length. "Ic i forþgelæde. Ic i forþGELÆDE!" Her emerald eyes flickered gold again and again but still nothing happened. The priestess punched the duvet in anger. If she was able to get her hands on any Saxon just now, it would be far from pleasant.

With this Morgana, clambered out of the bed in fury. She let her bare feet thudd against the cold stone floor as she approached the cream coloured curtains with intricate patterns of lavish shells on them. Gently, Morgana opened the curtains and was dazzled by the bright sun. She collapsed on the cushioned window seat to be instantly warmed by the sun. Morgana gazed out the window to see the lush grounds of the house below her. She estimated that she was on the third floor of this house. In the distance beyond the emerald meadow, Morgana could see the sapphire sea. This explained why shells and coral decorated the room. It was all too captivating. Morgana wasn't too sure if she was acting like normal. She seemed to be acting very peculiar.

Morgana took in the aroma of fragrant lavender perfume. She should have noticed before that she wasn't covered in blood or grime. The witch hadn't even noticed that she was wearing a silk nightdress which was exactly the same coral colour as the walls. Morgana didn't know where she was at all. Before she had been knocked unconscious there had been a man which she had vaguely recognised. Morgana tried her hardest but she couldn't remember who this mysterious man had been. Perhaps he had just been a figment of her imagination, but how else would she explain being brought here? Maybe, this was all a figment of her imagination. Morgana pinched her skin. She was sure it was real. It was all really vivid including her nightmare. Perhaps she was in some sort of afterlife. Maybe Emrys had killed her after all.

A knock at the door brought Morgana back to reality. In entered a young girl with two mousy chestnut cheeks. She did not look up at Morgana but stared at the ground forlornly instead. If Morgana wasn't mistaken, she was sure that the girl was scared out of her wits. It seemed the priestess's immense power and terrifying presence was known everywhere she went. Morgana couldn't quite decide whether to get cocky or have more of a melancholy attitude towards this.

"M-My lady," the girl trembled. "The king would l-like to s-see you?" Morgana didn't find herself feeling sympathetic towards this girl at all. The sorceress was more worried about where she was, who this king was (hopefully not King Gremian's duplicate) and why she was here. Morgana was also stressed out about her dreams (which occurred everynight), Emrys, her hair, Emrys, Mordred, Emrys, Alvarr, Emrys and the list went on and on.

"Who are you?" Morgana snapped. The poor girl flinched but didn't dare to look up at Morgana.

"I am just a m-mere servant," the girl mumbled in her terrified voice.

"Who is this king you speak off?" Morgana dangerously whispered. The girl glanced up at the witch who was trying her best not to make this servant run off. For a moment, their eyes locked. The frosty emerald eyes glared at the soft chestnut eye.

"King Urien," the servant muttered. That was it! Morgana had literally ran right into Urien in the forest. This couldn't be good. Urien had visited Camelot a couple times with his father, King Lot, and Urien just couldn't keep his eyes off of her. It had been obvious to everyone that the prince had fallen for her. This was bad, really bad.

"King Urien? Is Lot dead?"

"Yes m-milady. I h-have been ordered to h-help get c-c-changed into something more s-suitable so that you can dine with the k-king," the servant trembled.

"You really think I can't manage myself," Morgana hissed. "GET OUT!" The servant curtsied with haste before departing the room and giving a large sigh of relief. Morgana did think about leaving immediately but Urien had an army. An army that could be great enough to conquer Camelot. Morgana only had to hope that King Urien was a lot less barbaric than King Gremian.

Raking through all of the dresses in the wardrobe, Morgana finally selected a navy one. There were no black dresses at all which annoyed Morgana. She changed into and put on a pair of plain black shoes. Morgana didn't even want to look at herself in the mirror so she marched out the room to where the servant was standing with her head bowed.

"Take me to the king," Morgana ordered. The servant led Morgana along many corridors and down a few staircases before stopping outside a large wooden door. The servant smartly knocked before opening the door and leading Morgana into the dining chambers.

"Morgana Pendragon. I have dreamt of this day for years," King Urien announced standing up and carelessly strolling towards Morgana. He then bent down and kissed her hand. This made Morgana feel murderous but she managed to keep her temper under control. She really needed to keep calm to succeed with her plan.

"King Urien," Morgana sweetly said bowing her head. "I must thank you for this kindness." As soon as Morgana said this she regretted it but f she was going to convince him to attack Camelot then she would have to be as manipulative and charming as possible.

"The pleasures all mine my lady," Urien assured Morgana pulling out a seat for her to sit down in. Morgana gratefully sat down trying remain as innocent as impossible. Inside her a fire a raging. "I do wonder how such a beautiful lady such as yourself could end up in chains? I will help you avenge whomever did it to you."

"Alas these are hard times," Morgana explained. "It seems there is no one you can trust. I was imprisoned by the Saxons and tortured. They hacked off my hair and abused me." Now she sounded like a complete damsel in distress. It was just typical that Gwaine wasn't here to see her act like this as it would have made his day. "Do not fear. I killed their leader."

"I am only too glad to hear it, my lady. What do you enjoy doing?" King Urien said clicking his fingers. Immediately servants began to fill up the table with mouth watering delicacies. Morgana was extremely ravenous and dehydrated as she hadn't ate or drank anything in over a day. She was beginning to feel weak from the lack of food as the past thirty-six hours had been the most tiring, stressful and terrifying hours of her life.

"Mmm... Enjoy doing," Morgana wondered allowed as a servant poured her a goblet of wine. "I cannot say that I have had time for leisure recently. Trying to avoid being killed or captured is quite a challenge. I suppose I enjoy taking over Camelot. I have done it twice now- it's actually quite enjoyable. I also enjoy playing with my nathair and talking or riding my dragon." Urien gaped at Morgana, gobsmacked. The witch bit back a laugh and hoped that this might put King Urien off her somehow. Though he knew that Morgana was a sorceress, he still thought that the answer to this question would be quite usual. Urien had expected her answer to be like reading, horse riding, playing chess or sewing. Instead he got kingdom domination, dragon riding and playing with a nathair (whatever that was).

"You have a d-dragon?" King Urien stuttered.

"Yes," Morgana cooly replied. "She feasts on human flesh. Anyway what is your relationship with Arthur and Camelot?" King Urien looked up at Morgana, in surprise at the sudden topic change. Closing her eyes, the priestess hoped that she hadn't changed the topic too suddenly.

"We are mutual my lady. We are not at war but nor are we allies. Why do you ask? I thought you and Arthur were not on terms?"

"That is true but how would you like to rule two kingdoms?" Morgana hissed at him. The witch knew that she had failed at this point. She had mucked up her supposedly manipulative and charming conversation with this king.

"Rule another kingdom? Of course I would my lady. Camelot is too strong and powerful for my liking for. My army would not be able to protect my own Kingdom and invade Camelot." Morgana knew that he was adamant about this and would not change his mind at this moment. She really needed to work on her manipulative skills which had once been admirably good. Perhaps after having three years with no company had ruined these skills.

"I must go," Morgana insisted looking at the ground. "I have arranged an important meeting with my ally at twilight." Obviously the prietess had just invented this as an excuse to leave King Urien's castle.

"But of course, my lady," King Urien agreed rising from his chair. "It has been more than a pleasure having your company here, Lady Morgana. I do hope that you will come back any time in the future even if it's just for an hour." Do not worry, Morgana thought inside her head. I will not ever be coming back he coming back here; not even in a thousand years. I have better things to do than watch you failing to win my heart. No one is able to win my heart.

Morgana bowed her head to King Urien before exiting the room and letting her anger get the better of her. She strode out of the castle, everyone she passed glaring at her, and marched right into the forest where Morgana summoned Aithusa. The young dragon came swooping down before landing gracefully beside the witch.

"Aithusa," Morgana exclaimed. "Why is it that I cannot trust anybody in this world? You are the only one I can trust." Aithusa impatiently scraped at the ground wondering what had happened to Morgana yet again.

"What's happened now?" Aithusa acquired. She fondly rubbed her head against Morgana's arm. Morgana stepped back as she could feel her anger erupting inside her.

"JUST THE SAME THING AS WHAT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME!" Morgana yelled making Aithusa flinch in shock. "EVERYONE WANTS ME DEAD! IF THEY DO NOT WANT ME DEAD THEN THEY ARE TRYING TO WIN MY HEART! NO ONE DOES ANYTHING KIND OR-"

"Everything is alright," Aithusa assured Morgana.

"-COMPASSIONATE FOR ME! EVERYONE JUST WANTS ME DEAD OR TORTURED OR HUMILIATED! EVERYTHING WILL NOT BE ALRIGHT AITHUSA! HOW COULD YOU HOPE TO UNDERSTAND? WHILE ARTHUR LIVES I WILL NOT REST!" Morgana now trembled with the anger she had just unleashed. It had been building up inside her and unfortunately Aithusa had been on the receiving end of it all. The agitated dragon tried rubbing her head against Morgana's arm again but the witch just pushed her away in disgust. This upset Aithusa even more. She had tried to be as loyal and faithful to Morgana as she could but Morgana didn't even seem to like her. At this thought Aithusa neglectfully hung her head low and stepped backwards. Her scaly tail hung in between her hind legs and the devastated dragon's body drooped low.

"We will get Arthur," Aithusa quietly growled. Her tone was fierce but had a melancholy trace in it. Morgana noticed this and immediately realised that she had just upset Aithusa. "We will get him and Emrys and Gwen and all the knights of Camelot. They will pay for what they have done to you and me, Morgana. I will burn them alive and annihilate everyone of them."

"You are right," Morgana whispered in delight. "I didn't mean to shout at you but I needed to shout at someone. We will hav-"

"If you need to shout at someone, shout at me," Alvarr said. He strolled towards Morgana with his hands held high in the air. Mordred close at Alvarr's side still not sure if this was a good idea. "I surrender although I am sure your wrath will be unpleasant. Afterwards, if I am still alive, I would like to help you annihilate Arthur and take over Camelot."

...

"Merlin?" Arthur moaned.

"Arthur," Merlin sighed in relief. "Thank the heavens your conscious." Arthur stared at Merlin trying to figure out what was going on. All he knew that he and Merlin were alone in the middle of a forest, again.

"I had a really weird dream," Arthur said, bewildered. "You were a sorcerer and had a fight with Morgana. The Saxons thought Gwen was Morgana and took her hostage. Morgana killed King Gremian and stole my sword. My Excalibur was magical and enchanted by some dragon which was meant to be dead."

"I am truly sorry to break the news to you Arthur but it wasn't a dream, it was reality," Merlin muttered examining a pine come in his hands. He wasn't too sure how Arthur was going to take this. It was going to be bad or really, really, really bad.

"WHAT?" Arthur roared hitting his head to make sure he was awake. He looked at Merlin in shock again and gave his servant a bemused look. "Very funny Merlin. You are just jealous of Mordred."

"Watch this then," Merlin laughed. "Leoht." A ball of light ignited in the palm of his hand making Arthur pinch his skin. His eyes were deceiving him. This was not Merlin. Merlin was a stupid and clumsily fool. He couldn't work out how to make soup which tasted in the slightest bit nice. He would also burn Arthur's dinner everyday. Arthur only put up with him because of his annoying but loyal personality.

"Merlin the sorcerer," Arthur sighed. "Next you'll be telling me that pigs can fly."

"Pigs can fly though," Merlin protested. "I could enchant them and make them fly." Arthur threw his head back and closed his eyes very tightly. When he opened them he hoped to be back in Camelot with Gwen. He was disappointed to still find himself in this horrible nightmare.

"Why did you not tell me?" Arthur mumbled. "Why have you lied to me all these years?" Merlin's stomach uncomfortably churned as Arthur said this. He felt extremely guilty and sick as he wasn't too sure if this was going to end well.

"I knew that one day you would be a good king," Merlin murmured. "You would have thrown me out of Camelot if you had known the truth. I couldn't bear to lose a friend like you Arthur. You are the biggest clotpole I have ever met but you are a true friend. I wouldn't lose you for anything in the world. Many a time, I have put my life on the line to save you. Once I even offered to give up my life for you to live. You are my best friend."

"I... I am speechless," Arthur stammered. "You have betrayed me."

"No I haven't," Merlin said, a few tears leaking out of his eyes. "I am me and will always be me. Just because I am a sorcerer it doesn't make me any different from who I was. Don't worry I'll still be a stupid and clumsy fool." Arthur frowned. Now he realised why Merlin managed to go into to battle unarmed and escape unscathed. His magic had been protecting the whole time and Arthur hadn't even noticed. To be honest Arthur wasn't surprised at this. He had been deceived by both Agravaine and Morgana. It happened that he was unobservant on a very regular basis.

"Why can't you just be Merlin the fool?" Arthur asked. "I liked who you were before

"I promise that I still will be the same person as before Arthur butI think you should know that the Saxons have taken Camelot."

...

Morgana glared at Alvarr with hate. She had saved this man's life and all she had got in return was imprisonent and humiliation.

"WHY DID YOU DO IT?" Morgana spat at Alvarr who was kneeling before her. Alvarr didn't look the slightest bit afraid of the murderous witch instead of him but just looked at her sympathetically. He knew how she felt. More than often he had felt the same way; frustrated and hunted. It had felt that no one in the world liked him. That everyone wanted to annihilate and slaughter him like an animal.

"I never knew that it was for you," Alvarr murmured. "I thought if I helped him I would be able to twist his mind and control him. I thought that if I controlled him then I would be able to kill Arthur Pendragon."

"It seems we have something in common Alvarr," Morgana silkily laughed. "You must help me painfully kill Arthur Pendragon but do not think I have forgiven you yet."

**Hey readers can you please read this because it is important. I am thinking of writing a sequel but I don't know whether any of you would want to read it. This story may be getting a bit boring- I don't think I have enough twists and surprises. If you would like a sequel then I will finish this fanfic linking onto me sequel in some sort of way. If you wouldn't like a sequel than I will bring it too some sort of conclusion. I need to know ASAP as the next few chapters will depend on whether their is a sequel or not. What do you think? Thank you to everyone for your support for this story. I really appreciate it.**


	31. Battling Love

**Alright everyone, there is going to be a sequel which will focus on purely on Mergana and how the Battle of Camlann should have ended. I kind of had writer's block and couldn't put the first scene of this chapter into words**

**Jedimasterawesome- Don't worry you weren't rude at all. ;) I have started writing the sequel and it's Mergana from the first scene. Throughout the rest of this story there might not be heaps of Mergana but the sequel's main focus is Mergana.**

**Renessaincbooklover108- Thanks! ;D**

**Danterevan- I hope it is a 'good' ending. I thought of it in July basically when I started writing this story. In fact in the second chapter of this story there is something really important for the ending.**

**Junior Woofles- don't worry it'll just been a follow on like another series to prevent this story becoming to big.**

"ARTHUR!" Merlin yelled running to catch up with his master. "Everyone from Camelot has set up camp near the river. The last time I checked on a map, it was east of here not west." Arthur rolled his eyes at his servant. He still couldn't believe that Merlin had magic.

"Don't chance your luck," Arthur warned. He was just beginning to understand that Merlin was a sorcerer. It just couldn't be true. It seemed preposterous. "If we were in Camelot just now, I would have banished you by now."

"Really?" Merlin asked in disbelief. Shrugging in dismay, Arthur silently felt glad that they weren't in Camelot. He wouldn't know what he would of done to Merlin. Since they were wondering around a forest and Arthur wasn't king anymore, he could hardly chuck Merlin away.

"I would have throttled you with my bare hands first, of course," Arthur joked.

"Well wait until I tell you how many times I've saved your life using magic," Merlin chuckled. "First time I used magic to save you was from that witch who impersonated that singer. Then I saved you from that knight which tried to kill you in a tournament. I remember a vicious dog almost killing Gaius. After that I saved you from... was it Nimueh and the poisoned chalice or the plague that Nimueh spread? I can't remember." For twenty minutes Merlin explained how many times he had saved Arthur's backside. The former king walked alongside his servant and didn't utter a word the whole time. It was unbelievable. Merlin couldn't have magic. Or could he? Arthur just couldn't make sense of this at all.

"M-Merlin," Arthur stammered. He was baffled by how many times Merlin had his life. "You a-are perhaps not as much as an ass as I thought you were." Proudly Merlin nodded. He knew that Arthur was really saying 'Your are a genius'.

"We have to be careful and keep our voices down," Merlin warned. "We don't know what could be lurking in this forest."

"Saxons?"

"Perhaps," Merlin whispered. "Bandits too. Most likely Morgana. She seems to spend her whole life wondering round forests looking for abandoned castles to live in." A small smile appeared on the king's bemused face. He could picture his half-sister fleeing around, looking for castles in wrack and ruin.

"What happened to Morgana?" Arthur asked. "I mean you and her were fighting full on."

"Aithusa, the young dragon, saved her again. You know about Aithusa saving her from King Gremian?" Though Merlin had not witnessed Aithusa saving Morgana from King Gremian's wrath, the rumour had spread quickly. Soon the whole of Camelot had heard about the witch escaping from the clutches of the malicious bandit king. Most of the citizens had hoped that the witch and the bandit king would annihilate each other. They were both a threat to Camelot and therefore, nearly everyone in Arthur's Kingdom wanted both of them dead.

"Everyone's heard about that," Arthur indignantly pointed out. "Everyone has also heard about the time she escaped on a rampaging bull. I have to admit that I would have rather liked to have seen that."

"Yeah you have to admit that, although she is an evil, twisted, old witch- Morgana has style," Merlin agreed trying not to laugh. "When I was five, I got trapped by some bandits and they forgot to lock the side door so I just walked out." Arthur laughed at this. He didn't understand where the hell Merlin was going with this. It seemed that Merlin the magician still talked incoherent gibberish. Arthur sighed in relief. Merlin was still Merlin. Magic did not change who he was.

"How are we going to claim the citadel back?" Arthur inquired. Merlin playfully nudged him. "Ow"

"How do we think we are going to get it back?" Merlin teased. "Perhaps along the same lines as we managed to claim it back the last two times." Glaring at him, Arthur wondered if Merlin had become somewhat cocky since Merlin had told him that he was in fact a sorcerer.

Five minutes later, Merlin and Arthur had arrived at the camp where most of the citizens of Camelot had taken refuge. All around young children played and ran, oblivious to the danger there were in. Though there were only a few tents up, men and women kipped around the fires clutching the few items which they had managed to take with them. Some people had even managed to lead their livestock out of danger. Several sheep were there as well as a dozen lambs, half a dozen horses, a few pigs and a couple of cows. Even one lone goat was grazing on shrubs. There must of been around twenty dogs too. Some were vicious snarling away whilst others radiantly chased the children or rolled on their backs hoping for attention.

"My lord," Sir Leon sighed in relief. "Merlin. It gladdens my heart that you are alright. Others have not been so lucky." Arthur frowned. What was Leon doing here when he was supposed to be negotiating with Queen Annis. Where was Princess Mithian?"

"Leon what are y-" Arthur began.

"Queen Annis told me to give you this," Leon interrupted handing Arthur a scroll of paper. "Queen Annis and I had to literally force Princess Mithian to remain in the safety of Queen Annis's castle. She wanted to help fight but she is still weak and emotional from what has happened to her in the past few months.!I came back here to help move the Camelot citizens to Annis's lands where they shall be safe." Arthur opened the letter which read:

_Arthur Pendragon._

_On the eve on the second night of your battle, my people shall be prepared. Meet me at the place where my husband was slain._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Annis Caerleon _

"Queen Annis wrote it very carefully to make sure that it the Saxon's got their hands on it, they wouldn't understand it," Leon said. Arthur crumpled the note in his hand turning round his eyes locking with Merlin's eyes. Both of them knew what was going through each other's heads. Was the warlock going to help by using magic?

...

"Are you telling me that you and Alvarr are going to try and live in Camelot?" Mordred gasped bemused. Morgana smirked at this. Some people were just too naïve for her likely.

"Yes Mordred," Morgana laughed her eyes glistening in the sunlight. Alvarr and Mordred both frowned at Morgana. A plan had obviously been hatched "As long as Alvarr gives a suitable reasoning for helping torture me, Alvarr and I will come and live in Camelot. But first, may I ask you why you saved Arthur and Emrys and the knights but left me to die, when we were first imprisoned by King Gremian and his men? May I also ask why you are a knight of Camelot?"

"You are a High Priestess, Morgana. I knew that you would esca-"

"How was she meant to escape whilst her shackles absorbed her magic," Alvarr interrogated. The young knight blinked in astonishment. Why were Morgana and Alvarr teaming up on him? Alvarr had locked up and tortured Morgana for weeks on end. Why had she sided with him? It didn't make sense.

"I knew that Morgana would manage to beat Gremian somehow," Mordred innocently explained. "Seriously, that man has no brains. He could never annihilate a High Priestess. You want to know why I rescued Arthur, Merlin and the knights of Camelot? They would have gotten away anyway. Merlin would have used his magic in the end. What I have done for the past few months has been an act. I beguiled everyone including yourself and Emrys. Never did I care for Arthur or Emrys or any of the knights apart from Gwaine."

"Gwaine," Morgana repeated in deep thought. "He actually has a heart compared to the rest of them. I owe him a debt. Though I hate him, he is one of the few people that treats me like an actual human." Mordred let out a small laugh which he covered up with a small cough. He was now pretty defiant that both Morgana and Gwaine had fallen for each other. By the end of the day the druid knight was expecting them to be betrothed. They had such great chemistry and Mordred could imagine them together.

"Some people believe that Arthur is to die at a Druid's hand. I want that druid to be me," announced Mordred pausing for a dramatic effect. Morgana's heart rate increased at this. It was all too good to be true. Soon Arthur would be dead. "I became a knight of Camelot so that when the time is right, I can strike out at Arthur and kill him. The time that I speak of will soon be upon us. If all of us work together we can bring about his bane."

"And Emrys's bane too," Morgana snarled. All three of the magic users stood in silence for a few minutes. They all glanced at each other trying to work out what was going on in each other's minds.

Morgana sighed in relief. Mordred's explanation and motives seemed to make sense. It had been important for her to make sure that Mordred was on her side first as he could be very dangerous. Alvarr was not powerful enough to be as much as a threat as Mordred. She could defeat Alvarr blindfolded and tied to a chair as Alvarr's magic was fairly feeble and he preferred to use a sword. Of course his magical abilities could have miraculously changed since the last time Morgana had met him, but she severely doubted this. If they had then Morgana would just have to call her loyal Aithusa again. It was getting quite old escaping on her dragon whenever she came into a life threatening situation but it ensured her safety. It wasn't like Aithusa minded. The young dragon had practically pledged life and limb to her service.

"How are we going to stay in Camelot?" Mordred incredulously asked.

"It's not like even Mordred can with the Saxons having taken over it," Alvarr added. Morgana laughed silkily at their ignorance. It was so obvious, clear and vivid to her, yet, an absurd idea to Mordred and Alvarr.

"Arthur will get Camelot back with Emrys at his side," Morgana assured them. "There is a room in Camelot which I discovered when I was ten. It scared me as it held the truth of my abilities of being a seer in it. I vowed never to go back there but now it is a perfect hide out."

"Where is it?" Mordred questioned with bated breath.

"It is behind a bookshelf in the library."

...

"Gather all the men, woman and children," Arthur ordered. "Take them to the very heart of Annis's kingdom unless Queen Annis doesn't let you."

"Yes, sire," said Sir Leon. The knight obediently began to round up all the men, woman and children.

"What happened to Alexander?" Arthur wondered. "Couldn't he call of the Sax-"

"He's dead," Merlin gruffly responded looking at the ground. The young warlock had been too late to save anybody's lives back there. Morgana's powers had grown a lot since he had last seen her. All twenty-five of the Saxons and Alexander who the witch had blasted back were dead. Merlin had buried them all with a little help from magic and made a cairn there with a rock on top which read:

_Through life and death respect your enemies. We are all human. No person is black or white, we are all shades of grey. Here lie the bodies of twenty-seven Saxons. _

Merlin had sorrowfully carved this message into the stone. Perhaps some of those Saxons had been forced into becoming soldiers or were just young and naïve. He felt angry at Morgana for several seconds but understood why she had done it. The Saxons had tortured her, starved her, imprisoned her, probably treated her like some kind of animal but worst of all (for Morgana) they had cut off her hair and left scars on her. Merlin pitied Morgana. This most likely was what prevented him from killing her

Alexander had never deserved to die either. He had helped Merlin, Arthur, Sunnivia and the knights escape even though he was endangering his life while doing it. Merlin had actually dug up Alexander's grave with an axe that had been blasted out of one of the Saxon warrior's hands. He owed it to the young prince who had probably never known any love in his life. His father seemed only to be interested in wealth and power and his mother had vanished before he was born.

Suddenly, Merlin hit his head in frustration as he remembered something. King Gremian's 'sorcerer brother' was still out there somewhere unaccounted for. He could prove to be a great threat to Camelot, Arthur and Morgana. Merlin felt himself feeling uneasy and apprehensive due to a combination of worry and frustration. The warlock was frustrated about not picking up on this fact and he was worried about everybody who could be in danger. However Merlin wasn't actually too concerned about King Gremian's 'sorcerer brother'. No, Merlin knew that he would be able to defeat this man in a matter of seconds. What more concerned him was Morgana. Something had stopped him from killing her. This frightened Merlin. What could stop him from saving many lives and all his friends by killing one person. Kilgharrah was right by saying Morgana was dangerous but Merlin just couldn't kill her. He had an ample amount of opportunities to kill her but yet he didn't; he couldn't. How could Merlin kill someone who he thought of all the time? It just wasn't possible. The warlock couldn't come to a conclusion of what stopped him. Perhaps Morgana's destiny was to live forever.

"I would't like to be the one to inform Sunnivia of Alexander's death," Arthur solemnly said interrupting Merlin's thoughts. The two men watched the blue eyed Sunnivia sitting on a log playing with her auburn curls. Sunnivia saw the two men watching so she got up and plodded towards them.

"Sir Leon is leading the people who aren't soldiers to a save haven in Annis's kingdom. You need to go with him," Merlin firmly ordered. Sunnivia glared at Merlin but then just shrugged her shoulders.

"You can't make me go anywhere," Sunnivia said. "I am sixteen and seven months. I am going to fight whether you like it or not." Merlin glanced at Arthur who was cleary conflicted and prayed that the king would stubbornly send her to Annis's kingdom.

"In truth I can't stop you from coming with us. I will warn you that there is only a very slim chance of coming out of this battle alive," Arthur warned to Merlin's dismay. Sunnivia gave a small nod in agreement.

"I know," she responded. "But I will die knowing that I was helping make the world a better place." Merlin scanned around the forest looking for Gaius. Finally, the young warlock spotted him and muttered something about talking to Gaius, to Arthur. Heading over to the old man, Gaius stood up in joy and embraced the son he had never had.

"Merlin. How glad am I to see y-"

"I have a lot to tell you Gaius," Merlin announced leading Gaius away from everybody. The physician looked suspiciously at Merlin wondering what was going on. "Arthur knows that I have magic. It was just a matter of time before he found out really."

"How did he react?" Gaius required.

"Shocked. Not too bad really. It's not Arthur knowing that I have magic that worries me. What worries me is Morgana."

"Morgana?" Gaius worriedly repeated. "What is she planning? What has she done?"

"Nothing I know," Merlin sighed. He didn't know how to explain it to Gaius. How was he meant to say I can't kill her but I can.

"What are you worrying about then?" Taking a deep breath, Merlin avoided Gaius's gaze. Now that he had got Gaius interested in why Morgana was worrying him, he had to tell Gaius the truth. Gaius really was a stubborn old goat.

"I can't kill Morgana," Merlin finally spat out. "I can't... I just can't."

"It's alright," Gaius reassured embracing Merlin again. "Morgana is powerful but you are even more powerful. You just hav-"

"You don't understand," Merlin trembled. His body was beginning to quake as he was becoming emotional. Being the person who the fate of Albion and Camelot rested on was a burden. "I can physically kill Morgana but my brain won't let me. If I don't kill her then I am scared that she will kill Arthur and all my friends and take over Albion." Merlin suddenly dropped to ground fighting back the tears. It was his fault Morgana was evil. That was why he couldn't kill her. He couldn't kill her because he felt guilty.

"Calm," Gaius soothed stroking Merlin's shoulder. "You know the people you love never truly leave you. Morgana has been corrupted yet she still remains in your heart." Merlin's tear stricken face looked up into Gaius's wise eyes. What was Gaius going on about?

"But I have never loved her," Merlin indignantly said in disgust. It was perhaps a lie but Merlin was not confessing his love to a deranged witch.

"Quite," Gaius chuckled. "You once had a bond though. This bond is still in your heart although the old Morgana is dead." This just puzzled Merlin. Gaius wasn't one to tell riddles. Had Kilgharrah been giving him lessons? Or perhaps Mordred?

"Yes but how do I eradicate this feeling?" Merlin asked pulling himself together. Standing and facing Gaius, Merlin felt ashamed to have dropped to the ground from such a trivial matter. The pressure on him had just piled on top of him and broken him down.

"You can't," Gaius simply said. "You must use it. You see if Morgana can turn bad why can't she turn good?"

"How am I going to make a stubborn and highly malicious witch have redemption?" Merlin incredulously wondered. Gaius just smiled at him in a way Kilgharrah would. The two of them had defiantly got together recently and talked about riddles.

"Do not underestimate the power of love." Now Merlin was conflicted. Kilgharrah had told Merlin to kill Morgana as it was the only way to complete his destiny but Gaius was advises him to help give Morgana redemption. For now, Merlin thought he would try Gaius's plan as it seemed like it could work.

"MERLIN!" Arthur yelled. Merlin reluctantly trudged over to his king to see Gwaine dismounting his horse.

"Gwen is fine and is in Ealdor," Gwaine gasped. The poor knight had obviously just got here at a full fledged gallop. "I don't know where Mordred is but he'll be safe; you know his abilities. But boy am I glad to see you two are safe. Leon's safe too I take it?"

"Yes," Merlin confirmed. "But however did you know that?" Gwaine shrugged.

"Leon is like immortal. He has survived everything when he should have died," Gwaine panted. Arthur suspiciously nodded but what Gwaine said was somewhat true. Sir Leon did seem tosurvive through two hundred thousand near death experiances.

"Have you heard that Merlin has magic?" Arthur whispered

"Took you a while to catch on," Gwaine chuckled with a rogue smile. Arthur laughed with him.

"Shouldn't we get the army ready for meeting Annis and her army," Merlin interrupted. This cut off both Gwaine's and Arthur's laughs. They had a battle to fight in and a war to win!

**Thanks for reading please review because it makes me really happy and motivated. I know that reviewing can be hard (I am rubbish at it) but even if it's a small message, it's still appreciated. I love hearin from you all**.


	32. The Battle With No Sword Fighting

**renessaincbooklover108- I think Merlin may have made a good decision. Now we just need Morgana to be less of a stubborn witch and accept Merlin. **

**Junior Woofles- Leon survived to the very end as well.**

In the horizen, the Saxons could see Annis's and Arthur's small armies marching towards the citadel, with an unbelievable amount of audacity. The Saxons sneered at the size of the Camelot-Caerleon army; it was an eighth of a size of their army. The Saxon general in Camelot had not received any messages from King Gremian or Alexander recently. Being highly malicious, the general couldn't wait to get back onto the battlefield commanding the massive Saxon army. He wondered if King Gremian would mind him taking his army out onto the battlefield and thrashing the tiny army. Surely the king wouldn't- the feeble army was going to attack them anyway. Finally, the conflicted general went outside to deliver the important message to the Saxon soldiers. When the soldiers heard that they were going to fight a tiny army, jeers and war cries erupted from around two-thirds of the Saxon soldiers. The other warriors skulked off to put on their armour. Many of them were terrified of battle or just simply couldn't be bothered to go out and fight.

The general was fairly clever and decided to leave a quarter of his army in the citadel. Even by leaving a quarter of his Saxon army behind, the Saxon army would still outnumber the Camelot-Caerleon army one to ten. It would be too easy for the Saxons to win, or so the general thought. Although the Saxon army was ten times the size of the other army, the Camelot-Caerleon army was better disciplined and equipped. It would been more even then the Saxon general could hope to imagine.

As he fastened on his gauntlets, the Saxon general felt anurge to go outside and fight Arthur and Annis's army single-handedly. Being patient, irked the general although he knew that the Saxon soldiers were getting ready as quickly as they could.

It took a total of three hours for the Saxon army to assemble and prepare themselves for battle. The Saxon general expected the Camelot-Caerleon to stride right up to the gates of Camelot but instead the army had ceased moving. It was as if they were challenging the Saxons. Such a small and feeble army could not hope to win a battle. They would not be able to win a fight and certainly not a battle. The courage that the Caerleon-Camelot army had gave the general an uncomfortable uneasiness.

...

"We are never going to be able to win this Arthur," Merlin muttered. Arthur turned round on his horse to look at his friend's sunken face. The pair were on the front lines of the Camelot-Caerleon army and could see the massive Saxon army marching towards them.

"Is there nothing you can do?" the king desperately asked the warlock. Shrugging, Merlin thought with all his might. No plan immediately came to the warlock but he was determined to think of one.

"I will try," Merlin confirmed. "But not even a sorcerer of my power can defeat tens of thousands of warriors. That Saxon army looks formidable." Arthur nodded. The king understood Merlin. He didn't want to but he did. At least Arthur knew that he would go down fighting for his people. For Arthur, there was no greater glory than dying, whilst fighting for what was right. If it happened that he died today, then so be it.

The Saxon army was approaching alarmingly fast and made Merlin apprehensive. He had still not thought of a plan to save everybody from the Saxons' wrath. Then, suddenly, it became clear in Merlin's mind. A plan hatched in a matter of seconds. Then, the next minute, the warlock was muttering: "O drakon, fthengomai au se kalon su katerkheo deuro!"

"What are you doing?" Arthur inquired, noticing that Merlin was speaking incoherent nonsense. Although it was incoherent nonsense to Arthur, the young king recognised magic when he saw it.

"Wait and see," Merlin knowledgeably smiled. "I just hope it works." Tightening his reins, Arthur bemusedly kept a close on Merlin. His friend seemed to be acting rather peculiar. Every minute, the warlock would glance hastily up at the sky as if he expected something to come shooting out. Nothing did. Arthur began to lose hope as he noticed the army was in cross bow range. The young King ordered his and Annis's archers to fire at the Saxons. On Arthur's command, a couple of hundred were fired at the Saxons. Around a hundred Saxons fell, although, some of them just pulled the arrow out of their flesh and clambered back up. When the archers were reloading their bows, Arthur's war horse pricked up its ears and reared. Fortunately, Arthur was used to horses rearing and managed to keep his seat. His war horse never reared in battle making Arthur suspicious of what had startled it. Having a good look around him, for something that could have spooked his his horse, Arthur noticed Merlin staring into the sky. Arthur followed his servant's gaze to see a bird like figure swooping down at them. As it glided closer, Arthur realised that it was too large to be a bird of any sort. In fact Arthur could only come to one conclusion of what it could be-

"Yes, it's a dragon," Merlin confirmed. "He will help us like be did with the giant. Your army will be terrified of him. Reassure your army or they will surely start to rout." It took Arthur a few seconds to get over Merlin summoning a dragon. After he did, he followed Merlin's advice with haste.

"HOLD YOUR STANCE!" Arthur roared to his troops. "IF WE DON'T PROVOKE THE DRAGON, WE WILL NOT GET ATTACKED!" The majority of troops looked like they didn't believe a word that Arthur said but they still courageously held their position. They watched the dragon soar past them and attack the Saxons. The brutal beast hovered in the air beside the Saxon army. Flames erupted out Kilgharrah's mouth burning Saxons alive. Landing right in the middle of the Saxon army, Kilgharrah crushed a few Saxon soldiers and then began to swipe some with his claws. He really was a useful ally for Merlin and Arthur to have.

"We will still have to fight the army in the citadel," Merlin pointedly told Arthur. "Kilgharrah is getting old and I do not want to pressure him too much by asking him to defeat this massive army and smaller one in the citadel."

"No..." Arthur stammered. "Y-Your father w-was Balinor." He said it as more of a statement than a question but Merlin still solemnly nodded. A sad pang hit Merlin every time his father was mentioned. The warlock still had the wooden dragon that his father had carved for him. It was wrapped in silk and hidden under a loose floorboard in his chambers. Merlin hoped it was still there and would probably curse anyone who had touched it.

"Yes my father was Balinor," Merlin sighed closing his eyes. He just managed to vaguely remember what his father looked like. After all, they only had been united a day before Balinor's unfortunate death. Life just wasn't fair for Merlin.

"So when we fought against the dragon, I did not kill it but you ordered to stop attacking." Merlin nodded again. His throat was dry and he could not speak. He watched Kilgharrah annihilated the Saxons with relief. Although Merlin didn't like a slaughter, it was necessary for it to happen to win. They still had defeat the smaller army in the citadel so Kilgharrah was more evening the numbers "Why did you not do that in the first place? You could have have saved many lives."

In the distance the Great Dragon, satisfied that he had done his work, took of into the darkness. He had managed to maim, kill or scare all the Saxon warriors. All of the Camelot-Caerleon army gaped at the sight in astonishment. The dragon had basically annihilated the whole Saxon army and had not even scratched a soldier in their army, it was unbelievable. Since Camelot banned magic, the beast should be attacking them too but it didn't. It just swooped into the distance like a bat. Although everybody on the battlefield was shocked, Merlin knew he had to thank the dragon.

_Thank you, old friend. I think Arthur might forgive you one day,_ the warlock telepathically announced

_My pleasure, young warlock but you need to be careful. The drum beat has started and when it ends Arthur will be dead. You must heed my words and kill the Druid knight_. With this Merlin heavily sighed and shut his eyes. It was not going to be easy.

...

"Morgana you realise that there is a massive army behind this grate," Mordred pointed out. The druid knight, the sorcerer and the witch were all rooted to the ground beside the grate that lead into Camelot. Mordred was looking perplexed, Alvarr was looking bored and Morgana was somewhat vague and lost in thought.

"Yes," Morgana dully confirmed.

"And if they see you they will kill you," Mordred fearfully said. "They will torture you beyond all human endurance and will leave you alive to decompose and get eaten by the rats." The young knight was extremely concerned for Morgana as she always had a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I know," Morgana sighed not bothered by what Mordred was saying.

"Then why don't you stay somewhere else? Emrys will be here soon." Morgana flinched when Mordred mentioned Emrys. He was her destiny and doom. The witch knew that he would one day kill her but she had gotten over this a long time ago. Some things Morgana just had to live with.

"Your concern is touching Mordred," Morgana silkily hissed. "But I am a witch and they are Saxon scum. You are not coming in with us and will go to Ealdor to retrieve Guinevere. You need to keep ontop of your deception and cannot suddenly vanish. Emrys is clever and unless you continue be as good as a deceiver as you have been for the past six months, you will not fool him." Mordred solemnly bowed his head and stared at the ground. He cared for Morgana more than he did for anyone else and could not bear to lose her. Although Morgana acted like she was made of unbreakable stuff, and was for the majority of the time, Mordred knew that she could crack. It was only reasonable for someone who went through what Morgana went through. Everybody in the whole of Albion, was searching for her. Stories were told about her frosty emerald eyes becoming alight making everyone within her view drop dead. Other stories spoke of her being able to turn people to stone with a mere touch of her finger. Of course all of these stories were rumours but most people didn't know that. Everyone was intrigued by the witch who apparently could not feel pain nor love nor anything. Most people just thought she was an empty shell determined to rule the world.

"We'll manage Mordred," Alvarr grunted. "I will protect Morgana with my life." Morgana turned around to Alvarr in surprise but violently nodded her head.

"Farewell then," Mordred dejectedly announced. "I wish you both luck- not that you need it." Stepping forward, Morgana tried to work out what was going on in Mordred's mind. Mordred could see that Morgana was trying to this and stepped back.

"Goodbye Mordred," Morgana whispered. "I know that you will definitely not need luck." Narrowing his eyes, Mordred trudged off. There was something of a hint in that sentence. Morgana knew something about him that he did not. Most likely she had dreamt of him in her prophetic visions but Mordred still felt ominous at this thought. What had she foresaw?

"Your still a good actor," Morgana laughed once Mordred ha vanished into the darkness. Alvarr raised his eyebrows in question at Morgana. "Don't look so surprised. You condemned me to death a week ago and now your saying that you'll protect me with your life. "

"I never knew it was you my lady," Alvarr lied. Morgana, it happened, could read him better than a book. His thoughts and actions were so simple unlike Mordred or Emrys.

"Don't lie to me," Morgana spat. "Everyone knew that the Pendragon witch had been captured." Alvarr cowered back away from her slightly but held his dignity.

"Gremian is my half brother," Alvarr sighed. "I can't help it if my mother had an affair with a bandit king long before I was born. I never even knew he was my half brother until two years ago. He hunted me done and imprisoned me."

"Then he threatened your life and told you to make chant the chains and the dagger. Of course, you care about your life above all others and did what he asked," Morgana finished off. "Half brothers are horrible if past experience is anything to go by."

Bang!

Alvarr jumped around in fright at the noise of Morgana blasting the grate of its hinges. Laughing, Morgana cautiously stepped inside the tunnel and magically lit a torch. Alvarr suspiciously followed Morgana staying in her shadow. The only noises that were heard from inside the tunnel that lead to the citadel were the footsteps of Morgana and Alvarr. It was too quiet for Morgana's liking. It took them a mere five minutes too reach the end of the tunnel. Morgana and Alvarr were not interrupted by anyone the whole way and they could not see or hear any signs of human's occupying the citadel. The door at the end was padlocked and Morgana was about to blow it off its hinges when Alvarr cowered back.

"Ladies first," Alvarr trembled.

"More like cowards last," Morgana softly said. Her eyes glowed golden making the door blast off its hinges. As soon as the smoke and rubble cleared, Morgana began to notice silhouettes of huge people towering over her. The Saxon army in Camelot were gaping at her and Alvarr. Although the army only consisted of around a couple of thousand men, it was still more than Morgana and Alvarr could ever hope to deal with.

"Do you have any ideas," Alvarr murmured to Morgana. "I am really getting frightened by them just staring at us. It's creepy." Morgana edged along the wall, blasting several soldiers back.

"I HAVE ONE!" Morgana screamed. "RUN!" Morgana and Alvarr fled as fast they could into Camelot castle with the whole of the Saxon army chasing them. The Saxons needed to catch the witch for money.

In the distance Arthur and Merlin had successfully clambered up the ladders and hauled themselves over the wall of the Camelot. It was quite a shock to see the Saxons fleeing into the castle. Arthur looked completely bemused by this.

"What the hell are they doing?" Arthur yelled to his servant. "Don't they know that they are about to be attacked by us?" To his disappointment Merlin looked as bewildered as he did.

"I don't know," Merlin exasperatedly gasped. "But this is good news. What do Saxons like?" Arthur frowned at this sudden question.

"I don't know... Food, power, money," Arthur laughed. "Why?" Merlin stared at the basically empty citadel and then spotted the grate blasted of his hinges. It was so obvious to him now.

"Who could get the Saxons a lot of money in a minute if they kill or capture them?" Merlin asked.

"Me?' Arthur said in disbelief. "But why are the-"

"Morgana," Merlin and Arthur simultaneously exclaimed looking at each other.

"Why would she be here though?" Arthur dubiously wondered. Merlin shrugged but then a cheeky grin appeared on his face

"Well, she has been locked up with Gwaine an awful lot recently," Merlin chuckled. "It's more than likely that he's driven her insane."

...

"WHAT THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO DO?" Alvarr screamed. Morgana grabbed hold of his arm and drew him to a halt. The Saxons soon surrounded them and making Morgana feel slightly faint. None of the memories the Saxons brought to her mind were pleasant.

"Leave it to me," Morgana dangerously warned Alvarr. Her voice was soft and made shivers go up Alvarr's spine.

Once the pair of magicians were completely surrounded by Saxons, Morgana spoke up and said: "I am very sympathetic to inform you of the most recent tragedy. Your king and prince are both dead."

"Dead," many of the Saxons echoed. They all glared fiercely at Morgana who was completely relaxed. Alvarr trembled at her side. The Saxons did not like the air of audacity that Morgana had or the attitude which she always strode around with.

"Join us and we will be able to create world in whi-" Morgana started only to be abruptly interrupted.

"She mus' o' killed the king an' prince," a Saxon jeered. Morgana crossly folded her arms. Why was it that her manipulative join me speeches were interrupted? She was starting to think that there was a curse about it. It was like magic. Morgana's thoughts began to get twisted and then world started to fade from her and she dropped to the ground. Someone gracefully plunged a sword into her stomach as she hit the floor.

"NOOOOOOO!" Morgana shrieked. Magic instinctively surged out of her blasting back everyone in the room including Alvarr. There was nothing that she could do to prevent it. Morgana pulled the sword out of herself not feeling any pain. There was blood; buckets full of it. She didn't feel it seeping out of her. A vision was occurring in her mind. It has caused her to fall to the ground in the first place.

Morgana was standing on a coral coloured balcony gazing out towards the aqua see and the white sands. Her long ebony hair blew back in the soft breeze and the dress she was wearing contrasted her usual one. The dress was white, flowing and graceful. It blew back in the wind making her look like a ghost in the dark sky. Not all was well, though. Her hands were covered in crimson blood. Her face was pink flooded with tears. She trembled.

The vision changed to a blurry land with a light. Morgause was there looking as healthy as ever. Her blond glimmered in the light but she looked furious and ready to kill.

"I say Morgana," Morgause sweetly laughed. "The temptation of a servant boy who has beguiled you. It must be hard to not being him. You are a traitor to our kind sister." Morgana collapsed to her knees. She was sure she was crying.

"I do not love him Morgause," Morgana sobbed. "I thought you would understand." Morgause silkily laughed at this making Morgana feel more and more frustrated. She didn't like being conflicted.

"Then kill him," Morgause hissed.

"I care for him," Morgana wept. "I will never want to kill him after what he did for me the other day."

Another vision appeared. Morgana was lying in bed and looked like she had just woke up. There was a woman leaning over her to retrieve a cloth making her feel vulnerable. Morgana thought the woman had been going to hurt her and had blasted her back. Clambering out of the bed, Morgana turned the woman over to see her arm badly bruised. She vaguely recognised the woman but couldn't think where from. When Morgana remembered, she knew that Emrys would kill her. It had been instinctually.

Lastly, Morgana saw a cave with blood smeared on its wall. Her vision was too blurry to make out what it read but her hand were coated with blood. There was some else in the cave too, unconscious. A searing pain was burning one of her legs and working its way through it. She then saw nothing but darkness.

In the corridor, lay Morgana amongst all the bodies of the Saxons. Once her visions were over, she fell into a deep slumber.

...

"Why are all the Saxons routing?" Arthur muttered to his servant. Merlin shrugged for the seventh time this minute. Arthur was asking the most pointless questions. "I mean they haven't even seen us and they are running away."

"Let's go," Merlin called, striding towards the castle with haste. Arthur almost laughed at his bravery but then remembered that his servant had magic. Most of the Camelot-Caerleon army still had to climb up into the citadel but the few that had stumbled after their king. Merlin, Arthur and around fifty men entered the castle to find the room filled with a couple of hundred bodies.

"I think most of them are just unconscious," Arthur announced. Merlin exchanged dark looks with the king. If Morgana was this powerful now, she would literally be unbeatable in the future. Merlin knew he had to act fast. Soon Morgana would be completely corrupted and too powerful for her own good.

**The next chapter is the last chapter of Confronting Destiny and Doom. The sequel of this story is basically just a follow on but I wanted to separate them because this story is mainly about the Saxon War and has hints of Morgana. My sequel is going to be about Camlann and Merlin/Morgana's relationship. Mergana is the key to the ending of the next story so it features heavily in what I have written of the sequel so far. I've had the ending planned out since July so it is not going to be very different from the actual series. **

**Thanks for reading and please review. It makes me happy and motivated.**


	33. Reunited and Torn Apart

**Important- the sequel is called ****_The Lies of Deceit._**** Once you have read this chapter you can go straight onto reading it as I've put the first chapter of the sequel up. Thanks!**

**Thanks to Jedimasterawesome, serenityskywalker and Junior Woofles for the reviews.**

It was silent in Arthur's chambers. Arthur ran his fingers up and down the blade of his sword while Merlin tidied up Arthur's wardrobe. Both grieved for Elyan and were in deep thought.

"Is there still no sign of Morgana?" Arthur asked his servant. Since the battle had ended two days ago, there had been no sign of Morgana anywhere.

"No," Merlin sighed. This troubled him. She could be up to anything. Most likely she would be plotting against him and against Arthur. Merlin couldn't admit nor deny that he was worried for Morgana. She would most likely be putting herself in great peril to achieve her goal. Merlin admired her determination even though she was trying to undo everything he worked hard for. Not many people could have the same goal over five years and still be working towards it. True, he had been working towards a goal for more than eight years but unlike Morgana, Merlin was getting closer to his goal.

A sharp rap at the door, disturbed Merlin's thoughts. Gwaine politely opened the door to see his friends quiet.

"There is someone here to see you Arthur," Gwaine solemnly announced. Elyan's death had impacted everyone and made Gwaine go quiet.

Suddenly, Gwen almost ran past him to greet her husband. She flung herself into his arms. Merlin turned his back on the scene and departed the room with Gwaine. For once, Gwaine didn't seem to want to talk letting Merlin trudge back to his chambers in peace. Merlin had a lot playing on his mind and strode right past Gaius without a word. He collapsed on his bed and sighed. Picking himself up, Merlin scrambled to the loose floorboard and dug out his magic book. He needed to find something that might help Morgana.

The warlock collapsed on his bed and read for hours but he didn't read anything that he could solve his problem. In the end he ended up shutting his eyes and falling into an uneasy sleep.

He dreamt of battle. He dreamt of Arthur alone on the ground wounded. Mordred and Morgana were cheering over his death. In the sky Aithusa was viciously being hunted down by Kilgharrah. The Great Dragon swiped at the dragon and-

"Merlin," Gaius called shaking him awake. "You've got to get up and attend Elyan's funeral and Princess Mithian's departure." Gaius went over to the window and drew the curtains. Merlin groaned and blocked his face with his pillow. Sighing, Gaius left the room so Merlin could get changed.

Merlin hastily changed his clothes and sat down to have a quick breakfast with Gaius. Gaius seemed unusually quiet and Merlin played with his porridge as he couldn't eat it. For ten minutes, both of them sat down not eating a bite.

"We will have to go now," Gauis quietly muttered, standing up. Merlin followed the physician out of the castle and joined the train of people who were making their way to the Lake of Avalon. It had been Merlin's suggestion to cremate Elyan's body there in a boat set alight as he had done with Lancelot. Arthur had agreed with him. Considering Elyan had gave his life to save many other lives, he deserved something grand.

When everyone had lined up at the lake, Arthur took a deep breath ready to begin his speech. He held Gwen in close to him. Tears were streamline down her face and the black velvet dress she wore, represented her grief and sorrow.

"Today, we hold the funeral for the one of the bravest knights I have ever had," Arthur began. He paused taking a breath at the state Gwen was in. His poor wife clung onto him sobbing her heart out. "He gave his life to save hundreds of innocent people. His bravery and nobility will forever remain in our hearts. Every other man and woman should look up to him and remember that in a time of need, you should not only be worrying about yourself. Throughout time, he shall be remembered as the knight who conquered fear. I hope that his soul shall forever roam free." At this Arthur nodded for an soldier to fire an arrow at the wooden boat and set it alight. The boat erupted into flames sailing forevermore in the lake.

_Tonight Mordred_, a telepathic voice said inside Merlin's and Mordred's heads. Merlin didn't recognised the voice but spun away from the lake to see Mordred smirking to himself. It did seem rather suspicious to Merlin.

Looking to his left, Merlin saw Sunnivia cradling baby Dawn who was more of a toddler than a baby. Although Sunnivia ha been upset at Alexander's death, she had got over it pretty quickly. Love at first sight was not something to be trusted. This brought Merlin to be thinking of Morgana again. What was she up to? And could he ever change her?

...

A meeting had been called up by Iseldir with all the druids and druid seers had been requested to attend. Around fifty or so druids or trusted magical beings had met with him in the cave.

"The time has come; Camlann is nigh. Emrys must find out the two words which may change the future," Iseldir announced to the rest of the cloaked Druids. "Those two words are-" He whispered the two words. All of the druids and magical beings bemusedly gaped at him. Iseldir nodded in satisfaction at everyone's astonishment. "These two words have been written or carved since the dawn of time. Nobody knows the true meaning except from a trusted few. Emrys must find them out at the right time. It is the only thing that can save Arthur from his fate. Emrys and Morgana Le Fay have been written from the dawn of time to save Arthur from his fate."

Iseldir watched the druids leave the meeting and dwelled on his thoughts about Camlann. Only Morgana Le Fay, Emrys and Morrigan would be able to save Arthur from his doom at Camlann. Difficult times lay ahead for everyone.

**Alright everyone, thanks for reading if you got this far. Hope you enjoyed it and read the sequel: The Lies of Deceit.**


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